


Crimson and Golden Leaves

by Paridise_FF



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Conflict, Death, Deception, Eventual Romance (Age difference), F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Love, Politics, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-02-11 02:17:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 50,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12925218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paridise_FF/pseuds/Paridise_FF
Summary: Years of suffering has lead a young blond down the path of pain. Uzumaki Naruto, a citizen of Konoha, sadness and hate follows his every footstep. This changes however, a lost family member, Uzumaki Kotero, cousin to Naruto comes and unites with him. Becoming brothers and enduring each other's hardships together, they will furfill their destinies to become legends.





	1. New Direction

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto the anime or manga. This story is based off the world of Naruto. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.
> 
> (A/N) Hello all, thanks for clicking on the story. First piece of warning, this story will involve violence and swearing and later in the story, mature content. Second piece of warning is that the start of this story will heavily focus on the OC in the early chapters then heavily focus on Naruto and then Naruto with OC. You may be put off by this and I wouldn't be surprised one bit. The OC will be a character to help flavour the story and develop the world of Naruto in a different direction.
> 
> Also, hopefully with the OC, Uzumaki Kotero, will make the story more unique and add many aspects to the world of Naruto we all love. So with that, please read and enjoy the story.
> 
> There are more chapters on FF.net if you read through this and want to continue. This story is being cross-posted under the same title. Hopefully I will have it all up to date soon.

"Ah, the smell of blood. I don't think I'll ever get used it," a tall slender man with broad shoulders said. He was standing in the middle of a forest clearing. The ground was stained with bandit blood, a darker shade than the blood red hair of the young man. He stalked over to a large boulder that was half-hidden by a few Ash trees. Slouching upright and taking a deep breath, whipping out a cloth to wipe off the distasteful red liquid that was residing on both his blades.

"They never learn, do they? Although I don't belong to a village… yet. They should've known I was too dangerous for them. Hmm I feel bad for them now that I think about, but fuck'em they started it and it's better that they're dead than I am!" he said out loud.

Looking at the bodies again, the man could not feel but a pinch of guilt creeping silently around his heart. The men looked thin and their clothes weren't in much better condition, they probably need food to eat, money to spend and treasure to be looted so they can live a better life. Although stealing it from a man trained in shinobi arts was not the way to go doing it.

After the man finished his breather, he sheathed his swords and went over to the corpses. Pinching his nose from the metallic smell, he piled the bodies together and gathered some firewood. The wood was dry and light from the passed summer. The wood was underneath, and he lit it with a match to get the fire started.

He did not regret killing the poor fools but he certainly would regret leaving their bodies unattended for pesky vermin and vultures to take a nibble off their hides. He certainly wouldn't want to find a rotting corpse lying in the woods. No, he cut them cleanly so they would have a quick death and he will make sure they will rest in peace. The red-haired man felt he shouldn't be here any longer than necessary, so he scurried off further into the forest.

Night has taken over, the area was pitch black, the only sources of light was a beautiful crescent moon, the various stars that scattered and populated the sky and a bright orange campfire. The red-haired was reading a letter with various scrolls littered around it. His shiny amethyst eyes going over every single word, over every single detail.

"Hope Kaa-chan was right about this, Konoha is only one day away essentially and I don't need any more hassle!" he spoke loudly to no one in particular, ending with the puff of his cheeks.

"It's bad enough that they're going strip me down and mind-fuck me to make sure I'm not a spy. I understand why they have to do it, but damn it still sucks," he sighed out gruffly.

"All I want is family, this is my only option now. Still though, I don't understand why Kaa-chan didn't try to meet up with her earlier, why stay on the road? I wonder if there was trouble between them?" he spoke in wonder. He stood up and kicked dirt and gravel into the fire, killing it and strolled with a bit of a bounce into a small dry cave.

He lied down on the rough ground and unsealed a fluffy pillow from one of his various storage scrolls,  _'Gotta love fūinjutsu,_ 'he thought.

He positioned himself in a somewhat makeshift comfortable position and closed his eyes. "Uzumaki Kushina, I wonder what kind person you are?" he said before he rolled over and lost himself into the sweet darkness that is sleep.

* * *

**Konoha Village**

It was another roasting day in the Land of Fire, and for the village hidden in the leaves, Konohagakure no Sato, it was business as usual. There were merchants entering and leaving, trading with the villagers and themselves with items only found in other elemental nations. The market area was bustling with people, it was a good season so there was a good harvest, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables at a fair price.

The Fire Daimyō was pleased with the state of the village and the results of the last Chūnin exams. Many missions have been sent Konoha's way. The ninja body have been working hard and completing the influx of missions.

It was clear to see that all is going very bliss for the village. At the entrance of the gates was a wooden shelter, two guards resting their bums on the wooden stools behind the counter. Both stared lazily out to what was going on ahead of them.

"This job is killing me Kotestu! Why do you love it so much? Wouldn't you rather do a bandit camp clean-up job or something… I don't know exciting?"

"Ah that's the thing my good friend, we're defending our great village from the dangers that could enter any moment through the gates.

We're probably the most important ninja in the WHOLE village. Apart from Sandaime-sama of course. And, Izumo we get all the gossip from the missions and stuff, who wouldn't love this job"

Izumo stared blankly at Kotestu.  _'Why is this idiot my best friend,_ ' he thought. After a few more seconds of the awkward silence, both Chūnin bursted out laughing. Izumo laughed so hard that he slipped off his stool and landed on his rear. As they were a scene, they both noticed everyone was staring at down with questionable gazes.

The two men sobered up quickly and sat promptly on their stools. Everyone went back to their business as the gate guards tried to act professional but snickering could still be heard from the wooden shack.

Suddenly Kotestu spoke up. "I get what you mean though, it would be nice if there was a bit more excitement around here to be honest."

A few hours went by and now it was early afternoon, the sun was still beating down on them. Wiping sweat off his forehead and cheek. Kotestu yawned and leaned out of the shack to see what was in front of the gates. He thought it was the usual, as he was going back to his stool, he saw a small shine come from the gate's direction. He squinted his eyes and noticed a lone man walking towards the village. He soaked in the details of the man as he was eyeing him up.

First, he noticed that the clothing he was wearing was mainly a combination of black and red. He wore black combat shinobi sandals that went up just below his knee-caps, black shinobi pants that hugged his legs, they fitted well to his figure and were loose enough for more flexibility. He had the traditional shuriken holster on his right thigh with strappings underneath.

On his waist he had various pouches, for various tools. As he looked higher up, he saw that he wore a long sleeved black shinobi shirt, over it was a very thin sleeveless jacket that was red as the primary colour and small black swirls on the border of the jacket. He noticed that that he was wearing a pair of dark forest green wrist guards with a bit more leather under the right wrist. There were also two sword hilts hanging off his back, both were parallel to each other. One hilt was ruby red and the other was sapphire blue in colour.

Then Kotestu saw the face of the man approaching closer and closer to the village. The man had a clean face apart from one scar. Kotestu saw the man feel the scar which travelled through the middle of his left eye. Kotestu assumed there must have been a good story behind that scar.

The eyes were as clear as water, the colour was intense, a surreal purple like amethyst crystals. Despite the weather, Kotestu saw the man's skin was was of a light tone, the man wasn't tanned one bit.

Then on top of the mysterious man's head was spikey blood red hair, it was kept long on top and only just shorter on the sides, it was kept in good condition and framed his whole face well. It certainly reminded Kotestu of a few of his fellow ninja.

"Yo Izumo. A guy is coming over, let's see what he wants!" Kotestu said. Receiving a nod, the two left the guard post to see what was with the man.

 _'Alright looks like I got some company already. Alright time put on my game face!'_  the red-haired man thought as the distance between him and the two approaching guards was getting smaller and smaller.

"Halt there. Good afternoon. State your name and business," Izumo said after tightening his bandanna forehead protecter, in a voice filled with authority.

The redhead looked at the two men with a poker face but inside he was thinking what he was going to say.  _'Guess I should just tell the truth,_ ' he thought.

"Good afternoon to you two as well. My business in Konoha is that I need to have an audience with your Hokage, and my name is Uzumaki Kotero," he said with a smile and a head nod. "Lovely to make your acquaintances."

Both Izumo and Kotestu were shocked to the core when they heard his name.  _'This guy is related to that Naruto kid!?'_  they both thought immediately. Izumo shook his head and looked at Kotero again.

"Ok Kotero-san, do you have any identification papers? We need to make sure you are legitimately who you say you, we can't have you running around under disguise, I think Hokage-sama would skin us alive!" Izumo said with a chuckle.

Kotero reached down into one of his pouches and whipped out a scroll, he gave it to Kotestu who opened it without hesitation. Kotestu saw that it was legit, Kotero was a citizen of the Land of Fire. He then closed the scroll and gave it back to Kotero. "Everything seems to be in order Kotero-san, welcome to Konoha!" he gleefully said with wide open arms.

Izumo looked at his partner with brotherly disgust written all over his face. He turned his to head to Kotero, gave a smile and a nod with his head. Both side-stepped to allow the Uzumaki by. Kotero gave a wink to them both and headed off. After he was a considerable distance, Kotestu looked at Izumo.

"I like the look of that guy, he wasn't even acting dangerous but I can tell he's strong," Izumo said as he went back to the guard post and said, "let's just hope he isn't an enemy."

Kotestu stood there for all but a second and rushed back to his job with his best friend. "Did you hear of the news of the man with red hair that went on a drunken rampage? At that town close by... what was it again? Oh yeah, it was Gero Onsen. Do you think it was him?" he asked, getting to Izumo's side.

Izumo looked up to the sky before saying anything. "I doubt it man. He looked clean, like he didn't drink at all. And he didn't smell bad at all," he said. "I don't think it's him."

* * *

**Konoha Main Streets**

As Kotero was walking towards the Hokage tower, he noticed what Konoha really was _. 'This place is FREAKING HUGE! There must be thousands of people here. Still its smaller than the Capital, thank God, that place is suffocating!'_ Kotero thought _._

Kotero noticed that there were four large chakra signatures around in a square formation, on the roof tops above at least two metres in from the edge. He looked up and saw nothing but still sensed chakra.

' _Must be Konoha ANBU, no doubt they sensed me, an unknown, with huge chakra reserves, not even trying to supress it. Hmm I shouldn't try anything funny, they'll chase me down in a second,_ 'Kotero thought.

Kotero was walking at a leisurely pace, taking in all the views, he saw kids playing with toys and playing "ninja", he thought it was cute, kids who could barely run fast, throwing wooden shuriken and falling on their asses, pure comedy gold. Time flew by and before he knew it he saw a huge red tower with the kanji of "fire" on it.

 _'This has to be it, if it's anything else I'll sell my swords,_ ' he thought with a small smile tugging his lips. He went inside the two with a friendly nod to the two-ninja guarding the door, he scanned the large area he entered. It was filled willed with people going in every single direction. It reminded Kotero of a bee hive and the Hokage as the Queen Bee,  _'Now there's a thought,_ ' Kotero giggled internally.

He saw a middle-aged woman, sitting behind a lovely wooden desk. The woman had brown shoulder length hair and a face that screamed 'tired'. Kotero nonchalantly strolled to the desk.

As he was going to open his mouth, the receptionist put up her index finger up and "shhhhhhhd" him.

 _'Bitch!'_  Kotero thought angrily but kept his poker face up, he did not want to make a scene here of all places.

Finally, after a minute of waiting, she turned her head up with the fakest smile Kotero has ever seen. "Good afternoon, how can I help you today?" she asked.

Kotero looked at her with a smile of his own. "Good afternoon to you too, I need to have an audience with the Hokage as soon as possible, when is earliest time I can see him?" he asked.

She looked at the schedule on her desk while twiddling her fingers. "Hokage-sama is free in an hour, his meeting with the council was cancelled, he can see you then," She said.

"Thank you so much!" with the simple reply he went off to the comfy chair, took out a scroll on medical ninjutsu and read it intently.

The hour went by in a flash. "You can visit Hokage-sama now!" the receptionist yelled out to Kotero from her desk.

Kotero quickly sat up, stretched his arms and legs and popped his back, _'God that felt good'_. He walked by the desk and gave the older woman a thumbs-up. He climbed the stairs and he saw a large green door with an ANBU guard just outside it. He went to the door and gave it a light knock.

* * *

**The Hokage's Office**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was doing the devil's work, paperwork, signing and stamping on the documents had made him tired of all this work. He really wanted to smoke in peace with some nice green tea and read the latest Icha-Icha book that came out. He looked at the stack of paper getting smaller and he was feeling relieved, _'Thank God, it seemed that it would never shrink, nearly finished,_ 'he thought.

He was about to stamp another page until he heard on his door. Hiruzen raised his head and looked at the portraits of the former Hokage.  _'Shodai-sama, Nidaime-sama, Yondaime-sama you're all probably laughing at me,_ ' he then gnashed his teeth slightly,  _'miserable bastards,_ 'he thought.

Hirazen nearly forgot about the door. Composing himself and taking a deep breath, he sat straight. "Enter," he said in a neutral tone.

What came into his office was the biggest shock that has come in a long time. Before him was a teenage boy, couldn't be older than eighteen, he had blood red hair and amethyst eyes. The aura seemed all too familiar to him. It was a blast to the past for the old man. Old and fond memories surfaced up, He had close relations to both Kushina and Mito.

When Hiruzen comprehended the situation, he was in he realised that this young man was an Uzumaki.  _'What are the chances?'_ he thought.

Hiruzen wasn't a veteran shinobi for nothing but he couldn't hide his shock completely as his left eyebrow was raised high the incentive, he started what he knew would be a long conversation. "Who might you be young man? You're certainly not one of my ninja," he said.

Kotero looked at him with a genuine smile, he knew what the old man was doing so he'll play along with it, for fun. "You're dead right. I'm not a ninja from your village. But where are my manners!? My name is Uzumaki Kotero, a pleasure to meet you Hokage-sama," Kotero said.

The aged Hokage looked at the young man, his curiosity was truly peaked now. He was right, this is an Uzumaki survivor. He gestured Kotero to take a seat in front of him.

"Kotero-san, pleasure is all mine. I'm sure you have a few questions for me, but I have a few questions for you too," Hiruzen said. Kotero didn't seem fazed at all. He knew this man was still considered a 'God of shinobi' but if he didn't act stupid he shouldn't be in any trouble at all.

"Of course, Hokage-sama, it wouldn't much of a conversation if I did all the asking and you did all the answering, now would it?" Kotero said in a playful manner.

Hiruzen was impressed, the young man in front of him was not intimidated in the least and was trying to make the talk enjoyable.  _'I think I'm going to like this kid,_ ' Hiruzen mused to himself.

"If you don't mind sir, but could I go first just to get what I wanted to say out of the way?" Kotero responded with a nod from the old man.

"Thank you. There are two reasons why I came to Konoha. The first was to apply to become one of your ninja and to see my lost family. Unfortunately…", Kotero took a deep breath and continued "My Kaa-chan, Uzumaki Aiko, had passed away, before she passed away she told me about her sister who she hasn't seen in many years and was sent to Konoha at a young age and that I should try to find her. You might know her; my aunt's name is Uzumaki Kushina," Kotero said with a pained expression.

The Hokage slightly flinched at name when it came out from Kotero's mouth. He did not expect that, or at least so quickly. He sat still, he was as quiet as a mouse. He motioned Kotero to continue with his story.

"My father died when he protected my Kaa-chan and I when I was four years old, then my Kaa-chan and I travelled mainly around the Land of Fire and coast across from the Land of Whirlpools. She trained me to be a shinobi the best she could. You could say she was my most precious person. I loved her with all my heart. We lived a happy simple life you could say.

Then a few months ago she caught this crazy disease, it was killing her and I couldn't find the problem or a cure. I'm skilled in medical ninjutsu, but I couldn't do anything for her, we travelled from town to town, city to city trying different doctors, while I got out and try and improve my skills with herbs and medical ninjutsu. I even tried to seek out Senju Tsunade, but she was an enigma. So, I just put all my focus on saving her. Trying everything that could cure her.

However, all it did was extend her life. She was dying fast!" Kotero gritted out. At this point Kotero's tears escaped his eyes, flowing down his checks. He didn't care if he cried in front of the Hokage about his mother.

"She told me all about Aunt Kushina and after she dies that I should go to Konoha to start a new life," Kotero wiped his face with his sleeve and looked straight at the Hokage.

"After she passed away, I fell into depression, but I couldn't let my Kaa-chan's last wish go to the grave so I came here. My only wish now is to settle down, discover my lost family, love them, protect and cherish them," Kotero said with determined eyes.

After a few deep breaths, Kotero recomposed himself after telling the Hokage one of his most painful experiences. He finished with a low, quiet voice but loud enough so the Hokage could hear. "I want to become a ninja of this village, I want to see my lost family. I'll do any test you want me to do," he said.

Hiruzen looked for any deception in the tale, he can catch any liar, what he found was that he was telling the truth. The aged Hokage felt bad for the boy, from the story it seems all he wanted to do was save his mother, he put in months of blood, sweat and tears and she still passes away.

Although he felt sad for the young man, there was a tinge of happiness flowing through veins.  _'The events were terrible but now it seems like both he and Naruto can have family. It'll do that blond good, he'll stop pestering me for my hat hahaha,_ ' Hiruzen chuckled in his head.

The old man knew this would benefit the whole village, he can tell that Kotero was a powerful shinobi, as of now he knows he didn't commit any crimes and the Uzumaki clan and Senju clan were best friends so it'll be easy for him to integrate into the village.

It would be the best benefit for Naruto, he can have someone there for him, protect him and love him. He could take off the mask he wears with the fake 1000 watt smile and have a genuine smile. The aged Hokage knew he failed Naruto, even though allowing his cousin to come and live would not repair the damage done, it would make the pit he dug not as deep.

He took a deep breath and looked straight into the eyes of Kotero. "I will let you become a ninja of this village but we need to get things out the way first. To make sure you are not a spy. You will go to the Torture and Interrogation department at ten sharp, myself and two others will ask you questions and check you out. I'll leave my questions until then alright and then if you get the all clear, well let's just see what happens," the Hokage said.

The old man stood up and looked out the window and noticed that's its evening time. "Kotero there's a hotel in the centre of the village, do you need money for a room?" he asked.

"No Hokage-sama I have money. Don't worry about that," Kotero replied with a smile.

Getting out of the chair, he rose and went for the door, he stopped and twirled on his to face the Hokage once more "I truly appreciate this sir, and I'll see you at that building at ten sharp," he said with a thumbs up.

Hiruzen laughed but then remembered, "But you don't know where it is!"

Kotero shocked the man when barked out a loud laugh. "Don't you worry sir, I'll find you," Kotero said. The Hokage had a very confused face until Kotero said "I'm a sensor, and your chakra is crazy strong. I'll just find you again hahahaha," Kotero said before he quickly dashed the door to find a hotel to sleep for the night.

The old Hokage was frozen still, he then sighed and shook his head left to right with a huge grin on his face.  _'That kid, I like him, I think he's exactly what this village needs. Now screw this paperwork, I have to make a good list of questions for the_ brat,'the Hokage thought with a grin.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

It was ten in the morning and the Hokage and Kotero were just entering the torture and interrogation building. Kotero has been in lots of dangerous situations but this building was giving him the creeps. They both walked down different corridors never going the same direction.

The young Uzumaki man was thinking the old man has gone senile but finally they make it to a large metal door. They entered beyond the room. The space was huge and the ceiling was nowhere to be seen. The floor was covered with cream coloured tiles and the walls were a boring grey. There was only one light and it was in the centre.

_'Trying to be scary huh?'_

Kotero finally noticed the two men who were in the room. One man had long sandy blond hair and a high ponytail and two bangs framing his face together with a strong jawline. The other man was like a bear, he was at least a head taller than Kotero and his shoulders were so large you could swear he was hiding people under his coat. He had two definitive scars on his face and he was wearing a bandanna to cover the rest of his head.

"Good morning gentlemen," the old Hokage said.

"Hokage-sama," they both responded without hesitation, like it was second-nature to them.

"We are going to do an evaluation on our new friend here, he is a potential ninja to join our village but we need to make sure he isn't a spy. Now Kotero take a seat over there," the Hokage said. Kotero obliged and sat promptly on the chair. "Are we ready?" the old man asked and the two assistants just nodded. "Alright I want your basic info so we can file it," he said looking at Kotero. Kotero gave a positive nod.

"What is your name?"

"My name is Uzumaki Kotero."

"How old are you and when were you born?"

"I'm seventeen right now, my birthday is on the 9th of September so just a month ago."

Hiruzen mused to himself ' _A month born before Naruto, that's nice,_ ' he thought.

"Height and Weight?" the large man in the trench coat said

"I'm five foot eleven in height, I haven't finished growing just yet. And last time I checked my weight I was sixty-six kilograms… none of it of fat mind you."

They were no responses, Kotero sulked  _'I was trying to liven up the mood damnit!'_  Kotero thought with a pout.

"Blood type?" the blonde man quizzed

"B, wait. No, yup definitely B!" Kotero chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his head

The three men exchanged looks and each nodded at each other.

"Uzumaki-san, my name is Inoichi and I'm going to perform a technique on you for the assessment so all I need you to do is relax and breathe in a steady rhythm, it'll make all of our lives easier," Inoichi said as he walked up to Kotero

"Please just call me Kotero, and don't worry I don't want to fuck up my brain so I'll do my best," he replied.

The large man sniggered to himself as Inoichi stood in front of Kotero. Inoichi then placed his left hand on Kotero's forehead after he formed his hand seals for a mind-walk jutsu. Kotero went to sleep as Inoichi searched his mind for any evidence for aligning himself with the other hidden villages. After an hour of searching his mind, Inoichi released his jutsu and walked over to the two other men in the room.

"Well how did he do?" the Hokage inquired, he only met Kotero yesterday and already he likes him a lot, maybe getting old has made soft.

"I've been wondering myself, I feel no ill-intent, he obviously doesn't want to hurt us or the village, and he co-operated with us… pleasantly," the bear-like man said as he rubbed his knuckle against his chin.

Inoichi had a smug look on his face. "Ibiki, Hokage-sama, the kid is clean, I've went through most his life without any form resistance, none of the memories were fabricated as far as I can tell.

To make the story short, he's a strong shinobi, he was trained by his mother and he brutally trained himself for what seemed like years.

There were memories where they were ambushed by Kumo and Iwa shinobi. The mother and son disposed of them together. It was a rare occurance, but there were multiple incidents that spanned across years.

From what I saw, Kotero-san is very skilled in taijutsu but more so in the art of kenjutsu. And everything he said about his Aunt and mother was true," Inoichi told them.

Hiruzen's grin grew even wider, he was right about him. Kotero wasn't siding with any ninja village, his actions showed that he was on nobody's side.

Ibiki stared at Inoichi with a frown "Are you sure he isn't faking anything?" he asked.

Inoichi sighs, making Ibiki and Hiruzen look at him with critical eyes. "No, he isn't. The only problem though is that his most recent memories was of him in a underground street brawl tournament. The town I saw was very familiar. I'm convinced that it was Gero Onsen, the town North of Konoha. I couldn't see a clear picture, but Kotero-san was clearly intoxicated," he said. "Heavily intoxicated."

"What happened after?" Ibiki asked, his curiosity was dripping off his tongue. "This kid is sounding more and more interesting. Did he win? Or did he vomit all over his competitors?"

Hiruzen wasn't showing it, but it was clear he was just as interested as the man beside him.

Inoichi sighed before he chuckled. "He won the small tournament with ease, despite his terrible condition. Kotero-san then went the liquoir store and bought multiple crates of sake. He brought the crates to his hotel room. The most surprising part is that not one bottle broke. Everything he paid for was with his winnings.

Kotero-san then procedded to drink, and once he drank too much, he began his fits of vomiting, which lasted for quite a while.

Kotero-san's emotions were all over the place. His mother's death just destroyed him, inside and out. With his drunken episode and releasing his dark feelings through his fists, it's obvious something happened to him that night. Maybe he had a vision of some sorts?

The memory of the next day showed that he recovered well enough to stop drinking and move on with his life. Kotero-san almost looked like he didn't even drink an ounce of alcohol that night," he said. "The most recent memory I could find without damaging his psyche were the events of two days ago at night-time. He was ambushed by those reported bandits that escaped during Genma-san and his team's mission."

Ibiki laughed. "So, he's a strong kid. And he suffered a lot. What are your thoughts Hokage-sama?" he asked.

Hiruzen exhaled heavily through his nose before he spoke his words. "All I'm wondering is that if he can use the Drunken Fist? Inoichi, how was Kotero during in his fights?" he asked.

Inoichi looked to the limp and sleeping body of Kotero. "He was very sluggish. However, his opponents were normal citizens. They weren't trained in any of the ninja arts. It was an unfair competition from the very beginning. His intoxication didn't even slow him down, all it did was make him trip over too many times in his fights," he said. "Hokage-sama, everything is finished. Ibiki doesn't need to do anything. Kotero is clean."

Ibiki hummed loudly. "Damn, and here I thought I was going to have fun with him. Thank God Anko isn't here though, she wouldn't care if he's in the clear already, she would jump on his bones and do her 'personal' interrogation," he said.

Hiruzen and Inoichi paled with the mention of the crazy snake mistress of Konoha. Then Hiruzen cleared his throat to gather the attention. "That clears everything, I need you two to write a report so I can give it to the council. ANBU!"

An ANBU ninja came in a flash wearing the mask of a yellow-billed duck. "I need Kotero back at my office. Try make it as relaxing as it can be," Hiruzen ordered.

The ANBU picked up Kotero and threw him onto his shoulder. He then vanished in a a body-flicker.

"That's good. I'd say he will go down well with most of the council," the Hokage said. A frown appeared on the Hokage's face. "It's unfortunate that my former team mates will give me grief," he said with a hard voice, his frown deeply darkened. "And Danzō will want Kotero for one of his schemes or have him kicked out."

"Hokage-sama why don't you just kick Danzō off the council if he always causes a pain to your backside?" Ibiki inquired, genuinely interested in Konoha politics.

"I hope that isn't a crack at my age Ibiki-kun?" Hiruzen said before he smirked. Before Ibiki could respond with any answer, the Hokage raised his hand to silence him.

"Don't worry Ibiki I was only messing with you. To be honest if I knew some of the things Danzō would do then I would have already, he doesn't have the Will of Fire, it's funny. Kotero isn't even a day in Konoha and he has traits of the Will of Fire. Anyway, it's too late to kick him out, he planted to many roots to get him out," Hiruzen answered him. There were a few dry laughs in between some words.

"ROOT? You mean his private Army?" Ibiki said with surprise that the Hokage would give out such information.

"No Ibiki you idiot, it was a metaphor. God, how are you a Jōnin?" Inoichi chided, it was funny seeing the menacing Ibiki jumping to conclusions and making himself look like an idiot.

Ibiki turned his head and glared at his partner.

"Anyway, as I said, it's just too much hassle to kick him out. I know he loves our village more than anything but he's going down the wrong path. Ahem… thank you both for your help today and bring your reports ASAP. I need to talk to Kotero about his skills, then he'll need an evaluation with a different Jōnin," Hiruzen sighed as he began to rub his temples with his fingers, it was going to another long day at the office. "Inoichi, don't include Kotero's drunken episode in your report. I'm sure both he and I would get in trouble if it became common knowledge. Ibiki, you can add anything relevant to it."

"No problem Hokage-sama. Now I'm wondering how good the brat is. He'll be a great asset to the village," Ibiki spoke in usual gruff voice and Inoichi nodding along.

The aged leader gave both men a smile as went his way back to the office. Walking through the streets of Konoha, he was bombarded with greetings and bows from his villagers and ninja. The young children ran up the man and started stare in awe the most powerful ninja in the village. Hiruzen returned their attention with friendly waves and a grandfatherly smile.

Although he wanted to return to his office as quickly as possible, not to get away from the villagers because of the attention, no because of a certain redhead that made quite the impression on the old man.

Throughout the so called "interrogation" the Hokage has been wondering how skilled Kotero is. If he went by appearance and attitude alone, he would assume he was a Jōnin, or at least an elite Chūnin, however looks can be very deceiving so he had a shroud of doubt but when Inoichi mentioned his encounter with Kumo and Iwa nin and his skill in kenjutsu, his interest grew tenfold.

Hiruzen knew the Uzumaki clan were famed for not only by their sealing prowess, but also their Kenjutsu and Water Ninjutsu. His itch to find out how skilled a shinobi Kotero was now worse than the itch for him to smoke his tobacco. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.  _'This kid is going to be the end of me!_ '

* * *

**The Hokage's Office**

Hiruzen suddenly opened his office door to find a groggy Kotero rubbing his head intensely. "Oh, I wonder if Inoichi-san does that to his wife?" he said out loud not realising Hiruzen was there.

"Kotero-kun, you shouldn't say stuff like that," the Hokage said while walking to his desk.  _'I wonder if Jiraiya could use that for his next book hehehehe… NO bad Hiruzen!'_  the Hokage thought.

"You alright Jiji? Oh God! Please forgive me Hokage-sama! My mind isn't a hundred percent yet," Kotero blurted out. He would have continued, but he heard Hiruzen chuckling to himself.

"Don't worry Kotero-kun, actually it's nice being called something else. You recently lost your mother and your father died when you young."

Kotero winces at the words said. He still wasn't used to the prospect of a life without his dear mother.

"My wife and my first son are dead and my second, Asuma, only calls me 'Hokage-sama' not Tou-san like he used to. My grandson, Konohamaru-kun, lives with me and he's the only one who would call me something like Ji-chan. I'd say we would both appreciate if we spoke on more… familiar levels," Hiryzen said, the smile never leaving his face as he nibbled on his smoking pipe.

"Yeah, don't worry. But I'm only going to call you that when it's just me and you. No way in hell am I'm going to say it in front of other ninja!" Kotero stated with a light foot-stomp to emphasis his point.

"Yes, actually that would be better. Are you feeling okay? You want water or Tea maybe?"

"Nah, I'm good for now Jiji, thanks though. So, you want to ask your questions, now don't you?"

"You got me," the Hokage said with his hands in the air in a surrender position. "I'd say if you just tell me your skills and other talents. I need to make an appointment with another Jōnin to test out your skills."

"Yea that makes sense. I won't go into detail of how skilled I am in each area of a ninja, it wouldn't do us any good if all my skills were on paper. To start with, I would say my best skills would have to be sealing and kinjutsu."

"Sealing? I'm not surprised since you're an Uzumaki. Are you a Seal-master?"

"Seal-master? Yeah I would be I suppose. I love seals, when my Mother started teaching me it, I took like a fish to water. Before she fell ill, I was already better than her."

"That's great! Seal-masters are rare enough. And what about your kenjutsu?"

"Well I don't like tooting my horn a lot but to be honest I'm deadly with my trusty blades. I learned the traditional Uzumaki styles, and I use one Uzumaki style in particular, 'Swirling blades' with two swords. I did so that there's always one attack facing the enemies. It overwhelms the opponent while the damage is done through swirling around him or her, stabbing them or slicing them when they are open. It's like a dance."

"I'm excited to see it when we do your test, now tell me about your other skills."

"Well, I used to do a lot of hunting, so I'm stealthy and I can make traps. Myself and Mother were proficient at the healing arts as you know so I can be at combat or at healing a team-mate.

My taijutsu is good, but I'm no expert, my style is the traditional Whirl-fist, basically it's like a whirlpool, you move slow, let your opponent's settle with your speed, then let your speed explode to throw them off their game. It relies on hard hits with the joints of the body so the elbow or knee are the main weapons of attack. The style also emphasises on grappling. Its handy such that if an enemy is open in the slightest, it's easy to pull off a combo where they get broken ribs, arms or legs," Kotero explained.

The Hokage was nodding along, taking down short notes on his skills. "I'm sure these are clan secrets and techniques," he asked. Getting a nod from the Uzumaki he put down his ink brush. "Okay Kotero, tell me about your ninjutsu."

Kotero looked down on the floor while scratching the back of his head. "Yea Jiji, this is embarrassing topic for me. Ehh I don't have much of a ninjutsu arsenal."

"Well everyone can't be perfect, now can they? Just tell what you do know," The Hokage said with a soft voice.

"Well I know the  **transformation technique** , and the  **substitution technique** ,  **teleportation techinque**  and finally the  **shadow clone technique**."

"WHAT! How do you know how to make shadow clones, that's a Konoha kinjutsu," the Hokage yelled out. Kotero's words truly surprised him.

"Well funny story there Jiji, my great-great grandad and the Nidaime Hokage were like best pals if I remember what my Kaa-chan told me. He made and gave the Shadow clone technique to our clan when we helped him with his sealing and his space-time ninjutsu. My Mother knew the technique so she just taught it to me," Kotero said with a loud laugh.

The aged Hokage took a few seconds to process the information he just heard, his senesi, Senju Tobirama, who was always a stingy bastard gave one of Konoha's most prized jutsu away like if it was loaf of bread. Leaving the fond memories of his former sensei, he took a deep intake from his pipe and then blew out the sweet goodness that is cinnamon infused tobacco. "Kotero, what about elemental jutsu?" he asked.

"I have the natural elemental affinity to water. I can also use wind chakra. Both are strong. I don't know any techniques for either element though," Kotero said glumly. "However, I have been training into manipulating them for ages, I can split a rock the size of my hand with just my chakra and I can soak a stack of paper, as thick as a few bricks with just my chakra as well."

"What element was your mother's Kotero?"

"Oh, she was a water user, and she was amazing at it as well!" Kotero exclaimed proudly.

"If that's the case, then why don't you have any water ninjutsu?" the Hokage questioned, quite perplexed on how Kotero hasn't learnt any yet.

"She was going to teach me. When I was younger, she made me focus on seals, medical ninjutsu, chakra control exercises, my tai and kenjutsu. She told me 'after these exercises, doing any elemental jutsu will be easier' so I did what I was told, Jiji she was a scary woman. I learnt that the hard way, so I wasn't going to question her.

We started my elemental jutsu training about a month before she got ill. When she was getting weaker and weaker, we stopped training and I completely focused and medical ninjutsu and the healing arts. Even though I couldn't save her, my skills in the area improved immensely," Kotero finished with a sad smile. "Only when I took a break did I ever practice it."

"Ah, sorry for questioning it then," Hiruzen said. He finished off a short list of Kotero's skills, he placed the ink brush down and looked into the eyes of Kotero. "Well I think that clears most of what I wanted to talk about."

The Hokage stood up and walked over to Kotero to put a grandfatherly pat on his shoulder. "We will arrange to have your ranking test tomorrow at twelve noon. I will have one of my most trusted Jōnin and my most experienced kenjutsu user to test your skills. I will be watching as well just to let you know. So, I suggest you go back to your hotel and prepare for it.

Once that's all done, and I announce to the council that you will be a Konoha nin, you can see your family. Deal?" Kotero nods his head from the Hokage's words, "Good! Just meet me outside the tower before noon and we can go to the training grounds together."

"Yes sir!" Kotero replied with a mock salute. Kotero gave a friendly wave and walked to the door. "See ya tomorrow Jiji!" he cheered as he left out the door.

The Hokage went back to sit down and motioned for one of his personal ANBU to appear.

"Yes Hokage-sama?" the female ANBU said behind her cat mask.

"Neko, I need you to get Gekko Hayate and Hatake Kakashi here immediately. Use whatever force necessary to get Kakashi to get him here before I chew his head for being late all time," the old man said gruffly as he was getting frustrated from the silver-haired Jōnin's annoying antics.

"Of course, Hokage-sama," the purple haired woman said in a neutral tone.

Five minutes later a tall man with brown hair, wearing a bandana forehead protecter and a katana strapped on his back entered the room. Both men waited in silence, every now and then a weak cough would break the silence. Before the ten-minute mark, a man with his forehead protecter covering his left eye, gravity defying silver hair and wearing the usual Jōnin wardrobe ran, his face tells the Hiruzen that he must have seen a ghost.

"Hokage-sama, you can't ban the Icha-Icha books just because I'm late all the time. Please sir!" he got on his hands and knees and begged his leader. "They are truly works of art," he yelled out.

The old man stifled a laugh while the brown-haired man in the back was filled with disappointment, ' _Th_ _is is our strongest Jōnin, God... we're a laughing stock,_ ' he thought.

"Kakashi, Hayate, I need you both ready for battle tomorrow," the Hokage said with seriousness.

Both ninja tensed and looked warily at their leader, Hayate was first to speak up "What's the matter Hokage-sama? Why just us two?" he asked.

"Well Hayate don't worry too much, we have a potential ninja coming from the outside, we already did an interrogation on him and he's clean, all we need is to test his skills to see where he is on the ninja ladder," The Hokage explained.

Both Kakashi and Hayate relaxed after hearing this, but Kakashi's curiosity got the better of him. "Sandaime-sama, why us two? Also, can we learn who it is?" Kakashi asked.

The old man had a slight grin when he heard this, he can't wait for Kakashi's reaction. "Well I need you Hayate to have fight him in a kenjutsu battle as he is very skilled in it, and Kakashi you're overall the most rounded ninja that we have that has skills in most areas. And his name is Uzumaki Kotero," The Hokage told the two.

Hayate took in the name with a hint of surprise, he heard rumours of a blond Uzumaki who pranks the village, as like everyone else he thought he was just a poor orphan kid. Kakashi on the other hand was shocked, his lone eye was popping out. ' _An Uzumaki survivor, How?_ ' Kakashi thought.

"So, both of you need to be at training grounds seven at twelve tomorrow. Kakashi if you come there late, I swear to God I'll strap you up so fast, search your house for your books and burn them in front of you! Dismissed!" The Hokage ordered, leaking a bit of his killer intent to Kakashi to drive home his point.

Hayate left, while Kakashi's feet seemed to be frozen in place. The Hokage wanted to finish his paper work but he knew his trusty Jōnin had something on his mind. "What's wrong Kakashi? You usually want to leave as soon as possible so you can read again."

"Sir, are you sure he is truly an Uzumaki and not an imposter?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, I'm a hundred percent sure he is who he says he is," the Hokage answered with certainty.

"How?" Kakashi asked, truly not believing what he heard.

At this point the Hokage was getting annoyed, he just wanted to do his damn paperwork. He tried his hardest not to crack his pipe in frustration and looked up to the masked cyclops nin. "I'm so confident because he is Kushina's nephew," he answered slowly.

Kakashi had been shocked again, second time in less than ten minutes. "So that means..." he didn't get to continue as the Hokage spoke up.

"Yes, he is Naruto's direct cousin, you could say closest thing to a big brother," the Hokage said.

Kakashi just nodded and left the office, processing all the information he just heard, he couldn't speak as he was flabbergasted. The old man leaned back in his chair and wondering how well his newest ninja will perform. He'd be lying if he wasn't excited to see what's coming. _' I wonder if he would like a spar with me at some time_ hehe,'he thought. He took a whiff of his pipe and swiftly got back to work at double time, trying to make the infinite pile of white stacked paper go down.

* * *

**Training Grounds Seven**

It was the next day, Kotero and the Hokage were walking just outside the main of the village to training grounds Seven.

Kotero was informed that it was the largest training ground they have for the Genin teams. It had various landscapes such as forest, plains, rock face and ground, a large river and lake so it was a great training ground.

The Hokage was reminiscing about his old team, the 'Legendary Sannin'. They were famous throughout the elemental nations and the old man wouldn't shut up about them.

They finally arrived at the clearing that was the entrance of training grounds seven. They were right on time, a minute till noon. Hayate was there already, having arrived a little early to do some warm up exercues and to clean his blade.

Hiruzen motioned Hayate to come over so they get started. "Kotero, this is Gekko Hayate, he is our kenjutsu specialist in the village, hopefully we get a grand spectacle from your fight today."

They both closed the distance between them and gave hearty handshake to each other. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hayate-san," Kotero said.

"As well Kotero-san, I'm excited for this match so let's get to it," Hayate said before he went off into the clearing, spun around and unsheathed his katana, and entered his sword stance.

Kotero walked a few paces back and spun around as well, and unsheathed one of his swords, Ruby. He entered the traditional Swirling Blades stance, relaxed his muscles, slowed his breathing, and then completely focused on Hayate.

The Hokage stood in the middle, between the swordsman. "Alright you two, we want to have a clean fight, so no major cuts or cutting off limbs. The winner will be decided if one of you can longer fight or in a position where you can't escape death. With that let's begin. Begin!" he shouted.

Both men flew at each other and parried their blows respectively, when they touched the ground, they swung their swords at each other, each dodging or parrying the others attempt to hit them. This went for several seconds until Hayate jumped back from an attack that seemed to come out of nowhere when Kotero swirled on left foot only slightly, his sword aiming at Hayate's left shoulder.  _'Fuck me this guy is good, I have to be careful around him, he has experience with enemies, he isn't some wimp who just picked up a sword for first time!'_  he thought.

Kotero took a more defensive stance, his breathing pattern hasn't changed since the start of the bout. He felt completely in the zone. ' _I wonder if I should use just one or both of my swords. We'll wait and see, if it gets harder from now on, I can always use both when I'm in stuck between shit and more shit!'_ Kotero thought.

Hayate rushed at Kotero with his sword ready to strike, he then channelled chakra to his blade to give it an overwhelming shine. " **Sword technique: Bleeding moonlight**."

Kotero's vision was completely useless now, he clamped his eyes together, trying to stop the light from stinging his eyes even further. The pseudo-flashbang really affected Kotero's surroundings. Instead of freaking out, he immediately focused chakra to his ears to try to hear Hayate's feet. He also multi-tasked by trying to sense Hayate's chakra, Kotero was disorientated but he could feel the chakra signature approaching him at an alarming pace.

At the last second, he quickly rolled to the right to avoid the stab from Hayate, switched grips so his katana was in his left hand, swung a large arc towards where Hayate stopped in his tracks. He heard the parry blow from his attack but that's what he wanted. Even though he was blind at the moment, Kotero knew the surroundings well enough to take advantage. Using his superior strength to keep Hayate from moving, he twirled from his spot and gave a kick with his right leg into Hayate's torso.

Hayate had the air blown out of as he skidded back, berating himself for being reckless as to getting caught by his blind opponent. Kotero opened his eyes and thankfully his eyesight was only a little fuzzy. He jumped back to a safer distance and retook his defensive stance, waiting for the attack to come to him.

The Hokage was watching with great interest, he was by no means an expert in kenjutsu but he is a master at boajutsu, so he knows this is a good fight. He couldn't help but not notice how calm and collected was, how he was soaking in every detail of Hayate, to make a plan to defeat him.

 _'Even when he was blinded by Hayate's attack, he still took advantage of the situation and delivered a hard kick to Hayate's chest. He's very skilled. And he told me he used two swords. If he's this good at using just one, I really want to know how good he is with two?'_ the Hokage thought.

Hayate was thrown off by the skill of the young man, he wanted to end this now. He got into a new stance and swung his sword in a circle. " **Dance of the crescent moon** ," Hayate said under his breath. Suddenly two more Hayates appeared out of nowhere and all three charged at Kotero, in different directions all going into motion for different swings of their blades.

Kotero knew that three enemies versus him were not good odds, even if two of them were shadow clones. He looked around to think of a quick plan. As the Hayates closed the distance on Kotero, they all timed their strikes so they would all hit at the same time. Kotero waited till the very last moment to initiate his assault. He quickly whipped out Sapphire and swirled in flurry of red flashes, a small whirlwind picked from his feet because he moved so fast. He then appeared behind Hayate, sheathing Sapphire.

The shadow clones popped out of existence and the real Hayate collapsed on the ground, barely keeping himself together, struggling to keep upright. He looked down on his uniform and noticed hundreds of mini cuts, blood dripping out of his body, and his jacket, shirt and sleeves torn up like tissue paper. Cold steel suddenly appeared on the left side of his throat. "Concede," was all he heard before he fell into unconsciousness and hit the ground hard.

The Hokage was gobsmacked, as soon as Kotero took out his second sword, the match went completely his way. Hayate's strongest attack was completely useless against Kotero. It was also the speed Kotero moved by that was frightening as well, he hasn't seen someone so young move that fast in a very long time. He got out of the shade from the tree he was residing and walked over to the duo. He saw Kotero sheathing his katana and then proceeding to heal the wounds that he inflicted on Hayate.

"That was most impressive Kotero, I didn't expect such a dramatic ending," Hiruzen said with a smile, he motioned ANBU to come by his side. "Tora, once Kotero has given Hayate first-aid I want you to bring him to the hospital so he can get checked out."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," the tiger masked ANBU walked so he was he was next to Kotero. After a minute of waiting, Kotero gave the sleeping Hayate to the ANBU. He then vanished leaving the old man and the redhead to themselves.

"Now we have to wait for Kakashi. I'm sorry about my tardy shinobi Kotero-kun. I told him to be here on time, even with a threat. But there's no way he's going to change in a day huh?"

"Ah, it's all good Jiji, you can tell some of your stories, the real juicy stuff from your career," Kotero said with excitement.

"Ah, I think I got one, how about I tell you about my battle with the Sandaime-Tsuchikage!" he looked over to Kotero was staring attentively at the old man, with eyes wide open. The chance to listen to the details of a Kage battle, Kotero had to take the chance with both of his hands.

The Hokage and the Uzumaki went over to a large tree by the lake and sat under the cool shade. There Hiruzen began his tale of the battles between Konoha and Iwagakure in the first shinobi war. He told him how both he and the Tsuchikage were both just Jōnin of their respective villages and this was their first experience of large-scale war. He then went on how both men dwindled down each other's forces until they both ordered their troops to retreat while they fought their own battle.

Both men fought long and hard, Hiruzen with his mastery over fire ninjutsu and his partnership with his main summon Emna and Onoki with his earth jutsu and developing Jinton, a kekkei-Tōta with consists of fire, wind and earth release in a combination. At that stage, it wasn't complete but the aged Hokage drilled the point down that it could still vaporise a man in milliseconds. At the end of the battle both men were exhausted and retreated themselves, no longer fit for fighting.

Kotero was soaking in every detail with star-filled eyes, he has never heard such intense battle, expected from two Kages, he truly wished he was there to watch what happened. Then two men waited in a peaceful silence, appreciating the nature in front of them.

At two o'clock on the dot, Kakashi appeared in the clearing two hours late. Both the Hokage and Kotero sensed him, they got up and walked over to the one-eyed Jōnin who was reading an orange book while perversely giggling.

The Hokage coughed into his hand, making Kakashi look at him. Kakashi noted that his leader had quite a large tick mark on his face so he had to think of an excuse quick,  _'Which one? The "black cat" one or "got lost on the road of life" … oh I know what to say now!'_ he thoguht before he coughed into his hand.

"Sorry, I was walking down the road of life, I took a left and ended up in the land of Hot springs so I had to run all the way back here," Kakashi said.  _'Hope they buy it!'_  Kakashi thought while showing his trademark eye-smile.

The Hokage did not look amused, he knew the paperwork was piling up and for every minute Kakashi was late, a new stack of papers probably came to the office to further torment him. Kotero bursted out laughing and grabbing his stomach, nearly tripping himself up from the ridiculous excuse. "You can't be serious with that excuse, can ya?" Kotero laughingly said out loud while pointing his finger at Kakashi.

The Hokage just sighed, "Don't be surprised, this happens quite often," he said while disappointment was written all over his face.

"You know it's rude to point at people," Kakashi said, trying to put himself in a better light.

"I know that much but it's even ruder to be two hours late for a meeting," Kotero quickly responded.

"Touché," Kakashi said with some defeat.

"Ah it doesn't matter," Kotero said while waving his right hand in front of him, "The name is Uzumaki Kotero, Hokage-sama says you're one of the strongest ninja in the village," he then put his right hand forward, ready for a handshake.

Kakashi returned the gesture and gave another eye-smile. "Nice to meet Kotero-san, I'm Hatake Kakashi," he told Kotero.

Hiruzen made his way to Kakshi and pulled down Kakashi's ear. "Don't use your full powers. We just want to see his skills. Nobody needs to die," he said.

Kakashi nodded slowly and then felt his ear once the Hokage had let go of it. He rubbed it softly, there was a hint of pain with the pinch.

"Alright you two," Hiruzen suddenly spoke up, both men straightening up their backs and turned to face him. "This will be a match between you two, like last time Kotero no major cuts, cutting limbs or destroying bodies, same applies to you Kakashi. This is just a test. Kotero for this match, you're banned from using your swords, I want to see your other skills. Alright now, get in positions, I'll act as proctor" he declared.

Kakashi and Kotero walked into the clearing leaving a large distance between them, and then both stared each other down. The Hokage looked at them before announcing "Uzumaki Kotero versus Hatake Kakashi. Begin!" he shouted before jumping back.

A leaf was slowly falling to bushy glass, as soon it hit, both ninja speeded away towards each other. Closing the distance, Kotero and Kakashi started their fight with taijutsu. They were going at it for a good minute, Kotero following Kakashi's speed for his Whirl-fist.

In the minute of battle, Kotero was trying his best to analyse Kakashi's style so he could do a combo attack, however he had very little success. All he could tell was that it was a fusion of two fighting styles melded into one. His defence was good and his attacks were fast and strong but they were predictable.

Kakashi was in the same boat, he has never fought some using Kotero's fighting style so all he could do was go with the flow. He noticed that Kotero used a lot of elbows and knee strikes, while using punches to either feint to get in close or use kicks to give him distance.

This went on for a while. Until, Kotero slowed down after he dodged Kakashi's high kick, shifting to the right. Kakashi was thrown off by the unorthodox movement. This is all Kotero needed. His speed exploded, targeting Kakashi's right side, he grappled his right arm in a two-arm bind. Pulled him closer to the ground while raising a chakra enhanced right knee-strike to Kakashi's ribcage. Splinters and pieces of bark went flying everywhere as a log was in Kakashi's place was completely obliterated.

After using the substitution and now hiding in a thick bush, Kakashi's lone eye was popping out.  _'What strength and speed, I better not underestimate him anymore! Ok, let's go for a genjutsu now,_ ' Kakashi thought.

Kakashi lifted his forehead protecter and revealed a red eye with three black tomoe marks, his sharingan. Getting in position he performed  **Demonic illusion: Tree binding death**. Suddenly, Kotero was trapped by a tree as bark gripped his wrists and ankles. Kakashi appeared through the tree above the redhead with a kunai in his hand. Kotero's reaction time allowed him to instantly cut his chakra flow, and then it erupted, breaking the illusion but he wasn't out of danger yet, Kakashi was on him like a hawk.

A kunai in his right-hand ready to strike Kotero in the back. Kotero swirled on his right foot, now facing the masked nin. As Kakashi swung his kunai at Kotero, it was parried by a short blade, appearing out of nowhere underneath Kotero's right wrist. It turns out that at the last moment, Kotero sent chakra to his right wrist brace, activating a hidden blade. Both ninja jumped back to give each other some distance.

They looked at each other for only a second before Kakashi flashed throught the hand seals needed for a large-scale water jutsu.  _' **Water style: Water dragon bullet** ,_' Kakashi thought, ending with the Bird hand seal. A huge water dragon formed from the lake behind Kakashi and threw itself at Kotero. It's glowing eerie eyes looking deadly in front of its prey. However, there was plenty of time for Kotero to use his own substitution, a shadow clone that was formed after he broke from Kakashi's genjutsu. It switched places with the original. A loud crash was heard when the dragon smacked the ground.

Before the dust cloud cleared, Kakashi moved into the site, thinking he got his opponent, however he was ambushed by three Koteros, coming to attack him. The two shadow clones coming from the sides and the original coming straight at him. The next moment, Kakashi whipped out two shuriken, flowed his lightening chakra through the metal stars and flung them at the two approaching redheads advancing from the sides. The shuriken travelled at deadly speeds and the two clones puffed out of existence after they were penetrated. The original Kotero and Kakashi now resumed their taijutsu bout.

Both now fighting fiercely, trying to gain the upper hand. Kotero noticed that Kakashi was predicting his attacks now as they were coming and countering them beautifully and mercifully. Any move he would do, Kakashi could simply dodge or counter with a quick punch combo. It was making Kotero infuriated to no end. ' _What can I do now? Anything I throw at him, he just uses it against me. Slippery bastard. I don't want to deactivate my weight and gravity seals. It would take too long, he could knock me out then. Well it looks like we're going to go for brute strength from now on!'_ Kotero thought.

Kotero dodged narrowly form Kakashi's ruthless strikes and gathered a large amount of Chakra in his right fist and arm. The muscles were under intense tension and Kotero released it, as His fist then impacted the ground and he yelled " **Fissure fist**."

The whole ground shook as if it was under an earthquake. Both the Hokage and Kakashi lost their footing and were truly surprised from the raw strength displayed by the young Uzumaki. Some trees were uprooted because the ground was splitting apart, huge spider web cracks were appearing left and right.

 _'This reminds me of Tsunade and her fits of anger. If his mother was the one who taught him this… power, I would fear her too,_ ' Hiruzen thought as he was balancing himself from the shifting ground, still shocked from the damage.

The clearing in the training ground was now in complete pieces, fissure marks and spider web cracks everywhere, a couple of trees have fallen. The nearby lake was swashing about as the shockwave calming down. Kakashi used a chakra enhanced jump to get in the air as if he stayed on the ground, he would be disorientated and his defence would be wide open.

Now searching for his foe, he prepared for his next attack. However, Kotero made no appearance,  _'Come on, where the hell are you?'_ Kakashi thoguht _._  Kakashi landed on the ground but was completely immobilized by an invisible force. Turning his eyes, he saw four seal tags around him, forming a square. A large frown appearing on his face, he willed his body to try to escape, but none of his muscles weren't budging an inch. Kotero appeared out of nowhere from Kakashi's side, he had his hidden blade activated against Kakashi's throat.

"This match is over. Winner is Kotero," the Hokage shouted from the tree. Now walking toward the two men he had quite a smile on his face. In the meantime, Kotero deactivated the seals he used on Kakashi and caught him while he went to the ground. His tensed muscle reacting to the sudden change caused him to fall. Kotero proceeded to give Kakashi first-aid, thankfully neither party damaged the other much. Kakashi looked up at the redhead in slight awe. He hasn't been in a fun fight that intense in a long time.

The Hokage stopped in front of them and smoked a bit of pipe before speaking. "Well done you two, honestly I didn't expect such a great fight. However, Kotero I must know, how did you get Kakashi in your last move?" he asked with curiosity dripping from his voice.

Kotero stood up suddenly and started doing a few stretches, smiling to the Hokage. "I had four shadow clones made with seal tags ready to use on Kakashi as soon as he landed. The seal tags being ' **Immobilising seals of the Mountains'.**  The original, gorgeous fellow you're looking at, transformed into a rock and one of the clones placed me beside Kakashi during the sealing process. When he was sealed I just used the opportunity to attack. I only got the chance cause of the huge dust cloud from my last attack obstructing Kakashi's vision," he said after he put his hands on his hips.

Both Kakashi and Hokage were greatly impressed with Kotero's ingenuity, it's clear he's a most skilled ninja.

Having used Kotero's arm as a support, Kakashi climbed himself up. He gave an eye-smile and shoulder pat to the Uzumaki. "That was a great fight Kotero, we definitely need to spar more often. You got me good with that trap. Though that wasn't my best effort," he looked down in shame, "I've gotten too lazy with my training after I left ANBU. Now I need to work harder so you don't show me up!" Kakashi declared with determination filling his lone eye.

"Yeah, we will. That was the most fun I had in a long time. I wonder what we could get up to if we go all out?" Kotero finished with a huge smile.

The two others paled slightly when they heard, the Hokage was the first to speak up. "You mean you weren't fighting a hundred percent in this fight!? Surely you jest, I find it hard to believe you have more in you than you showed in the fight," Hiruzen said with surprise in his voice.

Kotero looked appalled that his new friend, the Hokage, didn't believe him. He looked at him and Kakashi. "Well I know for certain Kakashi didn't fight to his fullest either. He is cleary stronger than what he showed here. He admitted he is rusty here and there, but still I can sense he has a lot more skill then what I saw in the fight. Why should I go to my best potential? We could destroy half of Konoha if we weren't careful," Kotero said with crossed arms.

Kakashi was speechless from the words. ' _If I had used all of my strength at the start, I wonder what would have happened. Would I win or would Kotero? I need to find out sometime soon. I have never met someone who didn't belong to a hidden village be so strong. What did he go through to get this strong?'_ he thought.

They all chuckled and started to leave the training grounds. They all had smiles on their faces and the Hokage was sucking his pipe dry. "Kotero, I have to say I'm most impressed with the show of skills you displayed today. You must have worked long and hard for them."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. It's true what you say, I did work long and hard. After my Tou-chan died, I wanted to get as strong as possible so I could protect my Mother from any danger."

"That is a good reason to get strong, ninja today get strong to fulfil their egos, or for greedy and selfish pleasures or even because they find destruction enjoyable. I'm glad you have a different resolve."

The three men arrived at the Hokage tower. Kakashi was keeping quiet, waiting to be dismissed. The aged leader looked at his tired Jōnin. "Kakashi, I'll need you to go to the council meeting today to tell the council about Kotero's skills. The meeting will be at four o'clock, alright?"

"I'll be there Hokage-sama. I will be taking my leave then," Kakashi did a quick bow to his leader and went off his way. "See you later Kotero," he then vanished from the spot via a body-flicker.

The Hokage lead Kotero to his office. When they entered he took his seat behind his desk and Kotero took the chair just opposite. The Hokage looked at the mountain range of paperwork on his desk grimacingly. He took a deep breath and looked at his newest ninja with proud eyes.

"Well Kotero, it gives me great pleasure to bestow the rank of Chūnin to you," the Hokage, Hiruzen, said as he took out a document with Kotero's credentials on it, and a dark grey Chūnin vest. He pulled out his drawer and took a forehead protecter with blue cloth and put it on top of the vest beside the scroll. He then got up and presented the items to Kotero.

Kotero graciously accepted the vest and headband and immediately put them on. He then put the scroll into his side pouch.

He looked at himself in the mirror that was in the office, smirking. ' _Damn I look good!_ ' he thought. He spun his head to his new leader. "How do I look Jiji?" he asked while his arms were spread out, displaying himself off as if he was a piece of art.

Hiruzen chuckled at the actions and sat back down on his comfy leather chair. "You look good, like a Konoha ninja," he answered with a smile.

"Ok enough of this, where is my Aunt Jiji, I want to see her!" Kotero said as he sat down, tapping his toes against the floor.

Hiruzen's face became very gloomy, this was the moment he has been dreading since Kotero has come to Konoha. He took a deep sigh, trying to construct the words he needs to say carefully. He doesn't want his new friend to blow a fuse and destroy the tower with his fists.

"Kotero, I need you to stay quiet for the for a few, ok?" Receiving a confused look from the redhead, in the next second he gets a slow nod, telling him to continue. "Your Aunt, Uzumaki Kushina died ten years ago during the Kyūbi attack. She died in the process of the protection of the Village," the Hokage said sadly.

Kotero tensed, that wasn't what he wanted to hear. "So, the Kyūbi attack really did happen, there was so little information outside of Konoha on what happened during the events. So, what happened to my Aunt's seal?" Kotero asked.

Hiruzen was now the one to tense up, "What do you mean Kotero?" he said.

Kotero took out an aged scroll with the leaf symbol and Uzumaki clan symbol on it and laid it down on the Hokage's desk. "Don't play stupid Jiji. This is a letter. It was in my grandfather's possession. It was the agreement to send my Aunt here to become the next Jinchūriki since second great-Aunt Mito was near the end of her age and because Aunt Kushina's special chakra. So, I'll ask again, what happened to my Aunt's seal?" Kotero said with steel in his voice.

The Hokage was taken back of how quickly Kotero's attitude changed, not that he could blame him. He knew now wasn't the time for arguments. "Your Aunt was pregnant. As you must now, the seal weakens when a female Jinchūriki goes into labour. The seal broke, the Kyūbi was released and went on a rampage in the village, killing hundreds and destroying buildings. Thankfully Yondiame-sama sealed the fowl best in a new born babe and-" Hiruzen said before he saw a raised hand.

He was cut off by Kotero, "So… My little cousin became the next Jinchūriki huh!" he said with no emotion in his voice.

"Yes, your little cousin is the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune," Hiruzen said glumly. "Is that a problem?"

Kotero was sitting in his chair, processing information a mile a second. His expression going from happy, to sad, quickly to frustrated and then calm. "How is he treated in the village. Don't sugar coat anything!" he tried to say in his most calming voice. He ignored the Hokage's question and asked another one instead.

Hiruzen struggled to get his words out as he hated to talk about Naruto's troubles so much. However, Kotero needed to know, he was his family. "When he was younger he had nobody to care of him. He stayed on the streets for only just a few months until I found him near a ramen stand, all alone. It was clear that he was malnourished and he was only wearing old clothes. How could you blame the child when he had no real knowledge on how to take care of himself? It was my fault as much as anyone else's for not taking care of him properly.

Naruto was subjected to some abuse, only minor things such as food or some small items being thrown at him. He was saved by my ANBU but that didn't stop the people for targeting him in various ways. It was clear that the whole village ignored and feared him. It was neglect that made Naruto suffer more than anything else.

When he was seven years old, I got him his own apartment and had a full guard detail on him. Hopefully when he became a Genin, he wouldn't need them. Though, the shops still detest him, they overcharge him or kick him out completely. The only people who serve him and treat him well are the people who own the ramen stand incidentally. Most people in the village believe he is the monster fox reincarnate," Hiruzen struggled to say.

**_WHOOSH!_ **

Kotero was struggling to keep calm throughout. The ignorant villagers treating his kid cousin if he was some type of cancer has made him angrier than he ever was. This finger nails were digging so hard into his palm that blood was leaking out. He was gritting his teeth so roughly he wouldn't be surprised if they cracked because of the pressure. His eyebrows were furrowed so much and the snarl his face wore made him into a man with the scariest face the Hokage has ever seen in quite some time. It was the last sentence that truly pissed Kotero off. His dam, that was keeping his emotions in check completely broke away and his chakra exploded from him. Papers were flying around and moving away from Kotero. The Hokage had to commend his newest ninja, the intense pressure from his chakra was impressing.

Cooling down, he breathed in and out slowly. Kotero composed himself. "So, nobody loves him?" Kotero said, more of a statement then a question.

"Well I do, I treat him if he's my own grandson. However, with my job I barely get time to spend time with my own grandson," the Hokage said depressingly.

There was silence for all but a minute. "I want Naruto and I to live together. I need him but honestly, he definitely needs me more. And don't worry about money, I have tons," Kotero exclaimed, crossing his arms across his chest and sternly gazing at the Hokage. He was not going to take no for an answer.

Hiruzen tapped his fingers on his wooden desk and just sighed. "Very well, have a look at the listings here for houses and apartments". He took a sheet of paper filled with vacant vacancies and gave it to Kotero.

Kotero quickly scanned through it. He saw one property that peeked his interests greatly. A double story house, with three bedrooms, a large study, joint kitchen and living space, basement and large clearing out in back for training. The price was hefty though, one hundred and thirty-five million ryó.

' _Thank God,_ ' Kotero thought knowing he saved up from doing jobs all through the years. He was going to be broke after this.

"I'll take this one. It has everything we will need," Kotero said as he circled the property with an ink brush and gave it back to the Hokage.

"Kotero, promise me that you will not reveal to Naruto that he is the Jinchūriki. It's an S-class secret in the village. I don't anymore stress to be put on his life now."

"Fine, I understand. So, when can I meet the squirt?" Kotero said with excitement. He can't wait to meet his little cousin.

The Hokage couldn't help but let his lips be tugged up when he heard Kotero. "Well it's already afternoon. I can set you two to meet up tomorrow morning. I'll send a letter to his homeroom teacher Iruka to tell him Naruto has business with you. Now I have to do paperwork until the council meeting at six."

"Didn't you say to Kakashi it was at four Jiji?" Kotero asked with confusion on his face.

"I did Kotero-kun but he's always late by two hours, so with crossed fingers, he'll be there!" the Hokage said with a small smile.

Both men laughed out loud. Kotero got up, and stretched and popped his bones. "Thank you Jiji, I'll make ya proud," he said. Kotero then left for the door and went back to his Hotel. The Hokage smoked a bit of his pipe and went off to do paperwork at break neck speeds.

* * *

**Council Chambers**

It was six o'clock in the evening, the sun was setting and the dusk was looming over the village of Konoha. The clan heads of Konoha were entering the council chambers inside the Hokage tower. When the Hokage entered the room, he scanned it from left to right. He saw Aburame Shibi, Akiminchi Chōza, Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, Hyuuga Hiashi, Inuzuka Tsume and then past his chair he sees his old team-mates Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, finally he sees his old bandaged up rival Shimura Danzō. In the back, he sees the ANBU commander minding his own business. He takes his place in the centre of the room and two ANBU guards closed the doors.

"Now that everybody is here let us get this council meeting started," The Hokage announced, taking off his hat and putting it in front of him.

"And what is this meeting about Hiruzen?" Koharu asked the obvious question that was on everybody's mind.

"Well, I was getting to that! If you would just have a bit of patience I would have gotten to it already!" the Hokage gruffly said, hating when this happens, as it always happened in these meetings. "The reason on why we are gathered here today is to talk about the addition of a new ninja into our Village."

Murmurs were heard throughout the room, the only ones silent were Inoichi and the Hokage. A "troublesome," was heard from the Nara clan head.

"Well Hiruzen are you going to tell us who it is?" Homura asked.

"His name is Uzumaki Kotero," the Hokage said. While looking around him, he couldn't help but notice there was an eerie silence in the room.

"Troublesome clan, they refuse to die, even after all they've been through," Shikaku said while scratching his chin with his knuckles.

"Is he a spy?" Homura inquired.

A frown appeared on the Hokage's face. "Well it would be stupid if I let him in if he was a spy. No, he's far from it. Inoichi and Ibiki did their jobs and they determined he's as clean as a whistle. Also, if he was a spy, he would be doing a terrible job, he's only been in my office, his hotel room, training grounds seven where he was with me and according to the ANBU watching him the local sushi bar getting a takeaway. This is the report that Inoichi wrote up on Kotero's interrogation," the Hokage said.

He then got up and passed the report to the elder council, who skimmed through before Koharu gave the report to Shibi, who read through the report as well. Giving it to the next clan head, this process repeated until the report got back to the Hokage.

Chōza was the first to speak, "From the report it seems young Kotero had some rough encounters with Iwa and Kumo nin. At least we know he's not affiliated with them," he said.

"And we are allies to Suna so they don't need an outsider to spy on us. Kiri is out of the question as they are still going through a civil war. So far this man has nothing against him," Hiashi added his piece after reading the report.

"Well as long he doesn't fuck Konoha over, I see no problem with him in the village," Tsume barked out.

"Tsume-san Language! This is a meeting not a social call!" the Hokage quipped.

"Well as troublesome as it is, how skilled is Kotero-san, he must be impressive if he's already a ninja here," Shikaku said with a bored expression.

"Well, earlier today, I had two Jōnin test him out. Gekko Hayate tested Kotero in his kenjutsu and I had Hatake Kakashi battle with him afterwards. It was honestly, quite the spectacle," the Hokage admitted.

To everyone's surprise, it was the usually stoic Hiashi who spoke up, "How so Hokage-sama? I would assume everyone in this room will definitely want to know how well he performed!" he said.

"Fine I'll tell you what happened today, and Kakashi will tell all of you about his fight when I send him in," the aged Hokage said with his hands laced together.

Everyone shifted in their seats to get in a more comfortable position, waiting patiently for the Hokage to begin the story. Hiruzen cleared his throat to gather the attention to him. "Myself and Kotero went to training ground seven to evaluate his skills. He himself and from Inoichi's report stated that he was skilled with a sword so I had Hayate come down so they could fight. Kotero told me before, that his sword style was an evolved Uzumaki style with two swords but he only drew out one at the start of the match.

They both battled hard and Hayate used one of his sword techniques, making his sword shine like a beacon of light. He blinded Kotero but it didn't do anything for Hayate's advantage. Kotero told me he used his sensory ability to see where he was coming from and enhanced his hearing so he can hear his footsteps. He then dodged Hayate's strike, beautify countered it, kicked him in the torso and got some distance between them still blinded. Then Hayate used his famous technique with his shadow clones.

By at that time, Kotero drew out his other sword, and waited for Hayate to strike him. Then in a flurry of flashes, he appeared behind him with his blade at Hayate's throat. Cuts appeared all over his body and his uniform was turned to rags. He had to be brought to hospital to get bandaged up. I honestly didn't expect him to beat our Kenjutsu expert so… quickly after he took out his other sword. It was a good fight to watch from the side-lines," the Hokage told the council.

The council were silent throughout the story, soaking in every detail. After the story was finished, all the clan heads were now very interested and were keen on finding out more about the unknown Uzumaki.

"Neko! Send in Kakashi in now," The Hokage said to his ANBU guards. The doors opened and the silver-haired Jōnin came into the room. Kakashi walked towards the others but stopped in the centre. He looked tired and his face's expression showed that he was quite bored.

"Kakashi, thank you for coming, please give a quick report on your fight. It's late and I still need to do some office work," the Hokage said with a hint of urgency to his voice.

"Evening esteemed council," Kakashi bowed after. "Today, Hokage-sama requested for me to test out the skills of our newest ninja Uzumaki Kotero. We started out the fight in taijutsu. I had difficulty with his fighting style which I can only assume is his clan style. This went on for a while until he pulled a move to throw me off, he then grappled me and proceeded to knee-strike.

Thankfully I used a substitution and a log was in my place, because the log was completely shredded from his attack. I then used my sharingan to put him under a B-rank genjutsu but his reaction time and genjutsu counter was fantastic as he got out of it quickly. I was going to attack him from behind but he knew of the attack. He parried my attack and we both put distance between ourselves.

Because I was by the lake I used a heavy-duty water jutsu. The water came at him at great speed but he substituted himself with a shadow clone that he created when he broke out of the genjutsu. It was an intelligent move because I went into the site of attack to investigate but was ambushed by two Shadow clone Koteros and the real one. I destroyed the shadow clones, then Kotero and I returned our Taijutsu bout. With my sharingan in play, it was easier to fight him but his style was still very fluid and hard to predict. I was getting hits in and I could tell he was starting to get annoyed by it. He then progressed to using a super chakra enhanced punch to the ground disturb the pace of the battle.

The damage was immense and I had to jump away. I was trying to find Kotero in the air but there were dust clouds everywhere obscuring my view. When I landed, I was frozen solid, couldn't move a muscle. Kotero used four shadow clones to put down four of his immobilizing seal tags around the instant I had hit the ground. And a fifth Kotero puffed out of a henged rock to put a blade to my throat. I shouldn't have underestimated him, he won fair and square. We both admitted I was rusty and because neither of us could go a hundred percent the match could have gone differently. That is all I have to report Hokage-sama," Kakashi with a deep sigh, his mouth was dry from all the talking.

The Clan heads and council were again thinking in silence. This man just defeated two of their Jōnin in two separate fights. They would have to be a fool not to take him in into the village.

Shibi broke the silence, something that rarely happens. "It would be very illogical to not let in Uzumaki-san. Hatake-san, how would you describe him and how would you rate his skills," he asked.

Kakashi pondered for a moment before answering in a cheerful voice, "Honestly so far, Kotero is a cool guy, care-free and funny when being normal but deadly serious in a fight. If I had to rate him… he would easily be Jōnin in skill. His taijutsu is fantastic for someone not specialising in it. We know of his exploits in Kenjutsu. He is most likely a seal-master to use such advanced sealing tags and the other aspects of being a ninja is there. The only thing I say he lacks is a ninjutsu arsenal as he didn't use any jutsu apart from shadow clones and transformation techniques, it's clear he's never had experience with working in a team as he never had the chance because he was never part of a hidden village," he told the council.

The members of the council were agreeing with the copy-nin's assessment. Hiruzen then spoke up. "I already gave the rank of Chūnin to Kotero. When he gains more experience, we'll see if he earns the rank of Jōnin. I said it would most likely be a year but from what I saw and heard from you Kakashi, it could be even six months instead. As protocol, we need to have Kotero under probation before he can participate in any ranking mission. So, I am declaring a one-month probation watch over Kotero with one squad of ANBU following him. Do we agree?" he asked.

"Of course, Hokage-sama," all but one said one said.

"Something the matter Danzō?" The Hokage asked the bandaged man.

"No, it matters little how long he stays in the village. As far as I can see he is a useful tool for the village and he is too much of a benefit to let go," Danzō replied sternly.

The Hokage just sighed when he heard this, he has always hated Danzō's views and philosophies with the ninja body and how the village should be run. However, there was the praise for his new redheaded ninja so it would be the best he got out of the man.

"He has already done the papers for a new property in the village but he's staying in the hotel for tonight. That's it for this meeting. You all can be dismissed!"

* * *

**The Next Day**

"Jiji, when will he be here, I want to see him!" Kotero ranted as he paced up and down the Hokage's office.

"Kotero, don't worry he should be at any moment, Iruka got the message and sent Naruto on his way here," Hiruzen said for the second time in five minutes. Kotero was getting restless and went over to the Hokage's desk, resting his hip on it, slouching with his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced into the mirror to check himself out. He was wearing his usual outfit. He sewn a new black cloth on his forehead protecter, so there were two long tails hanging behind his head, ending just halfway down his back.

"Anyway, remember what I said about what happened with you and Gero Onsen. I don't want to hear something like that from you any time near the future," Hiruzen warned.

Kotero sighed and rubbed his temples. "I was hoping you wouldn't hear or know about that. I'll do my best Jiji," he said.

All of a sudden, the door of the office slammed open and a short blond kid walks into the room like he owns the place. He's wearing blue sandals and shorts. He wore a white t-shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol under an orange hoodie with short blue sleeves on them. On top of his head were a pair of black-tinted googles.

Closing the door behind him. "YO JIJI! Why am I in your office I haven't done a prank all week like ya asked dattebayo! Unless you want to give your hat away, I want to know why I'm here!" he blurted out.

Hiruzen began to laugh, the audacity of the kid was something that always made the old man smile. "Naruto, there is someone here I would like you meet," he said, pointing at Kotero.

Naruto saw the much taller man and waltz upped to him. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage of Konoha. Who are you?" he asked.

Kotero was studying intently at Naruto's appearance. He had to say it was quite… unique. He then noticed, six whisker marks, three on each cheek.  _'Must be an effect from the Kyūbi,_ ' Kotero thought. He put his hip off the desk and crouched down to Naruto. Meeting Naruto's eyes with his own. "Nice to meet you Naruto," he put his fist in front of him, ready for a fist bump, "My name is Uzumaki Kotero," he said with a smile.

Naruto was visibly shocked when he heard his own family name. "Uzumaki? Why do you have my name?" he asked.

"Why do you think? We're cousins, you know what that means, we're family!" Kotero told him.

Naruto's thought process was running a mile a second. He declared to himself long ago that he had no real family, no family whatsoever. It made it easier to deal with his suffering that he experienced through his short life. Now his world is flipped upside down, out of nowhere, a real person was claiming to be his family. It was too much for him to bear and he broke down in an uncontrollable state of crying.

Kotero immediately hugged Naruto fiercely, picking him up from the floor, he started to rub his back to try to calm him down. Kotero couldn't blame his little cousin, he has been suffering for a decade, it was too intense for the blond. After five minutes and a soaked shoulder, Naruto calmed himself down so it was just a few sniffles.

He looked up at Kotero with watery oceanic blue eyes. "Where have you been? I've been alone for so long, I suffered so much pain and hatred. Being called a demon or monster for no reason. It hurts so much! WHERE WERE YOU!?" he shouted at end.

Kotero was getting watery eyed now. The state that his little cousin in was causing his heart so much pain, it felt similar to getting stabbed by a million hot senbon needles in the heart. He looked into Naruto's eyes, his own eyes trying to conjure up as much love and affection as possible. "Naruto, I only just found out about you. Don't worry though, because you are never going to be alone again. Today we're going to be brothers, who always look after each other. Do you think you can do that? Good. From now on, the pain that you suffer, we suffer together. We're going to eat together, hang out with each other, train and do lots of crazy shit! I'm going to be there for you."

Kotero took a breath and then poked Naruto's heart. "All I want is for to be there for me too," Kotero softly spoke with tears falling from his eyes.

Both Uzumakis hugged each other with such passion and love that their respective backs were cracked. The Hokage was in the back of the room, he knew he had no part in this family reunion. All he could do was smile and dry one up some of the escaped tears that came from his eyes.  _'I think everything will be alright from now on,_ ' he thought with happiness.

* * *

**~ 0 ~**


	2. Ancestry

"Kotero-niichan, where are we going?" Naruto gleefully cheered while being carried on Kotero's shoulders.

"Training grounds seven, I want to get to know my little brother, and we're going to need a nice quiet space, so we can talk. Now hold on tight!" Kotero said while dashing. Naruto tightened his grip and Kotero swiftly rocketed ahead.

The new two brothers quickly blurred to their destination with Kotero moving at break neck speeds. He stopped dead in his tracks when they arrived at the entrance to the training grounds. Naruto's world was spinning upside down.

"Did ya enjoy that Naruto?" Kotero asked with a huge grin.

"Hahaha yeah Kotero-nii, God that was fast!" Naruto giggled as he jumped off his brother's back.

The duo went over to the crystal-clear lake, the sunlight was brightly reflecting off the surface of the water. There were barely any clouds in the sky. The temperature was picking up as the day travelled further in time. Kotero and Naruto took their seats just beside the bank of the lake. A tall tree's branches were providing shade for them.

"So, Naruto tell me about yourself," Kotero asked his new little brother. ' _This should get the ball rolling!_ ' he thought.

"Eh, I don't really know what to say dattebayo?"

"Come on just tell me anything!" Kotero asked with an encouraging voice.

"Hm, well my name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like Kotero-nii and ramen, especially from Ichirku. I hate the three minutes for the ramen to cook and the looks of the villagers give me. And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage! So that everyone in the village has to respect me!" Naruto yelled with a fist pump in the air.

Kotero was smiling like a madman, trying his hardest not to laugh on his ass. ' _My little brother is a ramen addict!'_ Kotero thought.

Stifling a small giggle, he looked in Naruto's eyes. "Hokage huh? That's a pretty big dream kid. You think you got what it takes to be one?" Kotero asked.

Naruto's eyes were filled with determination. "Of course I do! I'm going to get super strong and fast, learn powerful jutsu and kick ass. Then I'll become Hokage!" He declared.

"I love the confidence Naruto. And I for one will help you get there," Kotero told him.

"What about you Kotero-nii?" Naruto asked.

"Well I like training, learning, you Naruto, our clan and sushi. My dislikes are mornings and people who belittle others even if they have no control over it. My hobbies are training, researching, taking naps and making people happy. I don't have a dream now but I always wanted a big family," Kotero said.

Naruto smiled hugely after Kotero said those words. However, there was something on his mind since they first met. "Kotero-nii, how are we related?" he asked.

"That's quite simple Naruto. Our mothers were sisters. So that means we are first cousins," Kotero explained.

"Are you sure? I never knew my mom and Hokage-Jiji told me he never knew my mom," Naruto pointed out.

"Naruto, he only told you that for your own safety," Kotero sadly told him.

"My safety? What would my safety have to do with my mom?" Naruto asked, pure confusion written all over his face.

Kotero started to scratch the back of his head. ' _I can't tell him that his mother became the Jinchūriki before him cause second Great-Aunt Mito was dying. Huh it runs in the family doesn't it. I guess I have to give him some half-truths,_ 'Kotero thought with a shaky smile _._

"Naruto, let me tell you a story alright. Years ago, my Aunt, your mother was sent to Konoha. It was agreed between our clan and the village. She came here and became a fine kunoichi. In fact, during the third great shinobi war, she was a force to be reckoned with. Especially to Kumo as they lost many men and women to your Kaa-chan's skill. Your Kaa-chan also had special chakra, she had the ability to form Uzumaki Adamantine sealing chains which were a rare ability only found in our family. They are fantastic when restraining enemies and highly destructive in attack. Nobody knows how to truely awaken them, but Aunt Kushina had them naturally," Kotero said.

Taking a breather, he looked at Naruto, he saw that he had his full attention. "So, you see Naruto, your Kaa-chan was a badass kunoichi who had a lot of enemies. If they found out that you were her son, they could possibly take up their pent-up frustrations on you, hurting or even killing you. That's why Jiji didn't tell you. He didn't want to get you killed," Kotero explained to Naruto in full detail.

"So, you're saying that my Mother was super powerful," Naruto said with an excited voice and star-filled eyes. His body was shaking hearing that his mother was a badass kunoichi. Receiving a nod from his new big brother. "Sweet! I gotta get strong so I can do her proud ttebayo," he shouted at the top of his lungs. He was running around while punching the air.

Letting his new little brother have his moment of happiness, Kotero rummaged through his to get a sealing scroll. "Oi Naruto come here," he said.

"Yeah what is it Nii-chan?" running over with his tiny legs to sit beside Kotero.

"This is a picture of your Kaa-chan when she was around your age," Kotero said as he handed Naruto a photo of a young girl with violet eyes, blood red hair, a round face wearing a beautiful smile.

"Wow she's beautiful. And she has the same pretty hair as you do," Naruto said with a smile.

"Wait. You think my hair is pretty?" Kotero asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I mean I've never seen hair like yours or Mother. It's really pretty," Naruto said without taking his eyes off the photo of his mother.

Kotero just stared at Naruto, in a bit of bewilderment. Very few has ever complimented his hair. Sure, he's been called handsome, but his hair was never really talked about. "Thanks, I guess," he replied with a scratch behind his head.

"The Hokage wanted you to be a Chūnin first before you got this information, but since I'm here. He had his hands tied behind his back, so he had to spill it," Kotero sheepishly said.

"Kotero-nii, does that mean you know my Father as well?" Naruto's face filling up with more excitement, anticipating the next answer, he couldn't keep still as he was literally shaking in place.

Kotero donned a saddened expression. "Sorry Naruto, I have no idea who he is. I'm sure it's the same story as your Kaa-chan. I'd say when you grow up and show you're mature enough, you'll find out," he said.

' _It does beg the question of who he is though..._ ' Kotero thought.

Naruto pouted at this and kicked a rock into the lake. "Hm, I would be an idiot if I thought I could get the all answers today. Looks like I have to wait," he then picked up a flat stone and skipped it across the lake. "Who do I think I am?" he said.

"Who are you? Isn't it obvious, you're Uzumaki Naruto, a future Hokage. Naruto, are you okay?" Kotero asked, concerned with his little brother's one-eighty in emotions.

"Yeah, it's just that I find out about my Kaa-chan, I want know about my Tou-chan as well," Naruto said sadly. He paused and looked at his new big brother and smiled "It just means my Tou-chan was a badass too ttebayo!" Naruto yelled out.

Kotero clapped his hands with a smile on his face. "That's the spirit. Now Naruto let me tell you about our clan as this will we be one of the most important lessons of your life!" Kotero said, he loved talking about his clan.

"Yosh!" he exclaimed with a mock salute. He sat down in front of Kotero looking up to him, ready to soak up every detail. This was much more interesting than Iruka's lectures about the history of the academy and other things about Konoha.

"I'll start from the beginning then. This is history that goes on hundreds of years Naruto. I know this because my Kaa-chan had some of the Uzumaki scrolls from our clan archive and she told me lots of stories about us. We are a very old clan who believe in the philosophy of peace and love. We were scholars at heart, that's why are so famed for being the best at sealing arts known as fūinjustu. As well as the visual arts, never forget that. We liked to express ourselves in various ways.

That doesn't mean we didn't like a good fight, no far from it, we loved to fight. Not for domination or destruction though, we loved to fight because of the thrill of battle is something unique. If you didn't know, our clan were also famed for its skill in kenjutsu. Samurai in the Land of Iron were jealous of us, since they only focused on the art of the sword while we were great at other shinobi arts as well.

Since our ancestral home was by the sea, most of the members in our clan were suiton ninjutsu users. I myself have the natural affinity to water, but I can use wind chakra as well. We were a clan that were respected and feared.

We are related to the Senju clan, we were always close, allies for each other in times of need since we came from a common ancestor. During the warring clans period, before the Hidden village system was adopted around the Elemental nations, we would help the Senju clan with food, weapon supplies and men. In return, we received a bulk of raw materials and the same if we were in any conflict. Our clan were a strong bunch, we were on par with both the Senju and Uchiha clan.

When the end of the warring clans period came, the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan formed Konoha, we sent them resources and materials to help them start up. We already had a larger village than what Konoha was back then, but we then declared it as a hidden village. It was called Uzushiogakure no Sato. It also had a nickname 'Village of Longevity'. For the Senju clan and Konoha to show their respect and strong friendship to the Uzumaki clan and our village, they put our clan symbol on the Chūnin and Jōnin flak jackets. That red swirl on some of the ninja's backs in the village is the one I'm talking about.

Our clan members often married each other to increase our clan ties, the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama married our second Great-Aunt Uzumaki Mito. We helped our friends out by setting up seals around the walls of the village for security and protection when their village grew exponentially, and other clans came and joined them. We even gave them the schematics for a barrier," Kotero was going to continue but his little blond brother interrupted him.

"Kotero-nii, what happened to our village?" Naruto asked, not understanding why his cousin is here if they already have a village.

"It was destroyed," Kotero said rather grimly. "I've never seen it for myself but Mother said it was the most beautiful village. It was towards the end of the second great shinobi war when it happened. Because we were such a respected clan, we were feared by the other villages. Mainly due to our sealing prowess.

Kumo, Kiri and a large contingent of Iwa ninja banded together to do a surprise attack on us. We weren't participating directly in the war as it would have been utterly insane to do so, but we provided tools, weapons and seals to Konoha since we were allies. We crafted high quality weapons and with our superior seals, it gave Konoha an edge in the fight. The other villages deemed us too dangerous, so they decided to destroy us. And unfortunately, they succeeded."

Kotero walked over to the lake to see his reflection in the clear water. "But we didn't go down without a fight, even though we were outnumbered to something like thirty to one ninja, we fought and battled hard while we sent some of our people away, in case we didn't survive. My Kaa-chan and her betrothed, my Tou-chan, escaped.

We can assume that the remnants of the village, was damaged beyond repair. Most of the buildings in the village should be in tatters. And a lot of people, both in the clan and the others who resided with us were killed. Men, women, mothers and their children were killed in cold blood.

Thankfully, because of our defensive measures and our seals, there was time to store all our clan secrets into the Uzumaki vault in the main compound. Our ancestors did it so the enemies couldn't use our work against our brethren.

There isn't a main family or branch family system in our clan, but since our grandfather, Uzumaki Yushiro was clan head at the time, we have his blood flowing through our veins. So, therefore we are the main family Naruto, we are the only ones allowed to enter it freely," Kotero said and moved back to Naruto.

Kotero unsheathed his two katana and showed them to Naruto. "An example of one of our treasures would be the swords on my back. They are an Uzumaki heirloom that were once owned by our great grandmother Uzumaki Teshi when she was clan head. She was a fierce woman with fiery red hair like me, Aunt Kushina and my Kaa-chan, and she used two swords like me as well. These swords are twins, they always to stay together," he said.

Kotero breathed deeply, then sighed. He walked over to Naruto's side to sit beside him. "An Uzumaki is a unique person Naruto. Usually we are hyper-active when we are young because we have so much chakra and energy that it's hard not to do something strenuous on a day-to-day basis. We are also a very friendly clan, family is the most important thing for us, I don't think we had any deserters or traitors in our history in the clan.

What makes us different from every clan is that we have immense chakra reserves, even when we are toddlers. When I unlocked my chakra, there was a small explosion and I recoiled into a tree. I had so much even my Kaa-chan was surprised how much I had. It was insane for my age according to her, even with Uzumaki blood flowing in my veins. I say you're in the exact same boat as me.

We also have such a strong lifeforce that we live longer than most people. It wouldn't be surprising if people died in their early one-hundreds in our clan.

And because of our lifeforce strength, our regenerative abilities are also better than most. We can't grow an arm or anything like that, but small cuts and bruises disappear completely after a few hours. This scar on my face was too deep to completely recover, but it was a lot worse when I got it, so I can't complain!

And usually an Uzumaki has red hair, but this isn't always the case. If one of the parents isn't an Uzumaki, then they might get the other parents hair colour. Also, our third Great-Grandfather Uzumaki Ashina had white hair all through his life even though his parents were both redheads," Kotero told Naruto.

As Kotero continued talking about their ancestors and their triumphs in the past, Naruto was amazed of how great his clan was, it was seeped with such rich history. For once, he was proud of his name, since now he knew what it meant.

Thinking over what his big brother said, he couldn't stop his heart beating like crazy, his clan were filled with such powerful shinobi. His desire to improve himself and his skills grew in tenfold. His dream has now changed onto a new path.

Naruto wants to do his clan proud by proving he is a strong capable ninja and becoming Hokage. With his fists shaking, he stared into his big brother's eyes. "I need to get stronger, if I want to become Hokage and make our clan proud of me, I need to train so I can be the best!" He declared with white fire pouring out of his cerulean blue eyes. Determination was oozing out of him.

Kotero smirked, stood up and started messing his little brother's hair. "That's what I wanted to hear! Naruto, you may have no real skills now," Naruto frowned at the words, Kotero sighs before speaking again, "but I can sense it, your untapped potential. You could possibly become the greatest Hokage if you work till your bones drop! Now I'm getting hungry, so why don't you and I get some ramen!" Kotero joyfully said.

"RAMEN! SWEET! Come on Kotero-nii," Naruto shouted as he grabbed Kotero's hand and pulled him hard. "Ichirku ramen is the best ramen ever!" he said to Kotero, with that, Kotero was being pulled hard towards the village by a tiny flying blond.

* * *

**In The Village**

"What the hell!?" Kotero whispered to himself when Naruto finished his eighth bowl of Ramen. "I know Uzumakis eat a ton of food, but Naruto! The stack of bowls is nearly as tall as you!" Kotero exclaimed.

"Well I need to keep my energy up, I'm a growing boy!" he replied quickly.

"Then why are you so short for a boy growing up?" Kotero quipped. A tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead and he was going to berate his older brother for speaking such a touchy subject but never got the chance. "Teuchi-san, please make two orders of vegetable ramen, and I want tons of veggies in them and one more miso pork for me," He asked.

"Right on it Kotero-san," Teuchi shouted in the back.

"So, Naruto, tell me about the stuff you're doing in the academy and the people in your class." If Kotero had to assume, the teachers would detest Naruto like the rest of the village does.

 _'Better get his perspective on this matter!'_ he thought while watching Naruto's facial expressions _._

Naruto stopped eating, some noodles dangling off the corner of his mouth. His face scrunched up a bit before swallowing up the remaining noodles. "To be honest, the academy sucks!" Naruto said bluntly.

"Well that was blunt!" Kotero with a chuckle.

A young brown-haired woman, appeared from the flaps with three bowls of ramen. "Here are you orders boys!" she said with a huge smile.

"Thanks Ayame-san," Kotero said.

"Ayame-neechan is the best!" Naruto cheered out as he took his bowl.

"Anything for you Naruto-kun. And you're welcome Kotero-san," she happily said as she left them to their own business.

Naruto looked at the packed vegetable ramen with a pout. Kotero had his own tic mark as he saw this. "You better eat those and tell me the rest or I'll leave you the bill," Kotero gruffly said.

Naruto paled, he rushed to the first bowl and started to eat his ramen. "All we do is go over the history of Konoha, which is fine if you want to be a book-worm, but I want to be a ninja. We only do training during Mondays and Fridays but the instructors ignore me, so my aim is crap with shuriken and kunai. And for some reason my equipment never sticks to the target. And my taijutsu is… crap as well. There's only so much I can do with just reading the scrolls on the basic academy style. I can see why Hokage-Jiji put me in the newer class," He said with a few stray noodles over his lips.

"Newer class? Ya mean that you were put in early?" Kotero asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I begged Jiji to make me a ninja, so he enrolled me early, so I would stop asking him hehe," Naruto said with a shaky smile and his eyes closed, scratching the back of his head.

"Well. It's not completely your fault. If your instructors did their job properly then you wouldn't need to be held back. Jiji told me his team of Genin reached the rank of Chūnin when they were six years old. You need to get better, stronger and most of all smarter. Knowledge is probably a ninja's most important tool. And I'm not saying you must know the Nidaime Hokage's favourite food or anything like that. I need to teach you about strategy and how to apply it. No way I'm letting you out of the village if you can only think of crazy, half-assed plans," Kotero said fiercely.

When Naruto listened to Kotero's words, he knew they were true, but they still hurt. But if there's one thing Naruto appreciated, it was honesty, brutal or not. "So, you're going to help me?" hoping for the answer would be yes.

"Of course I am! But I won't be here all the time Naruto. After this month, I'm going to be on lots of back-to-back missions to get experience with the other ninja. And it seems I need more money to pay for your ramen. I promise you when we have free time, I'll help train you.

I'm going to say this here though, I'm not going to walk you through this holding your hand. I'll criticise you whenever you make the slightest mistake. I'll punish you when you only put in half of your efforts. I'll be ruthless until the session is over. You okay with that, it'll make you strong, but you might hate me!" Kotero said with a grin.

Naruto went over the words and nodded with fierce speed. "How can I hate you? You'll be helping me," he said with a real smile.

Kotero just smirked and finished his bowl. "Good, now I want to hear about your class mates," Kotero said.

"Oh yeah. Well there are like twenty-six other students like me. But most of them blend in so I don't really remember them dattebayo. There are a few that are real distinctive.

There's Shino, he keeps quiet and rarely talks. You wouldn't notice him there if his bugs weren't buzzing about.

Then there's Kiba, He's smells like a dog and he's way over his head. Kiba has a puppy called Akamaru. The dog is much better company than him.

Chōji is always munching on a pack of potato crisps or sweets. He sounds like a grinder during class, it's kind of funny to watch.

Then there's Shikamaru. He's the smartest guy I know but he's as lazy as he is smart. He is tied to being dead-last with me because he is so damn lazy. He has his own catchphrase 'troublesome', he mutters every five minutes ttebayo.

There's this girl called Hinata. She stares at me from time to time for some reason I have no idea for. That and she has the Byu.. byaka.. bakagaaan, damn! I can't say it!" Naruto said with frustration.

"You mean the Byakugan!" Kotero said smiling at the stutter.

"Yes, thank you. And stop laughing. She has the Byakugan, so she has different eyes from everyone else.

Speaking of girls, there's one called Ino. She's real annoying but she never bats an eye on me so I don't care.

Then there's Sakura-chan," Naruto told Kotero.

"Sakura-chan? Do you like her in that way Naruto?" Kotero asked while poking Naruto's shoulder, interrupting him.

Naruto mumbled something under his breath that nobody could comprehend. "What was that Naruto. You voice is all quiet and it sounds like you're speaking through a muffler," Kotero teased.

"I said yes and no," Naruto said in a flustered state, his face turning red from the embarrassment.

"It can't be yes and no. It's either one or the other. Now spit it out," Kotero demanded.

"Fine! I sort of like her. When we were younger, I saved her from bullies making fun of her big-ass forehead," Naruto said, making Kotero bark out a mighty laugh.

"She then thanked me, and she had the most beautiful smile I've seen. We played for the rest of the day and it was the most fun I had in a long time ttebayo. The next time I saw her though, she was much colder to me. She then became a fangirl to the teme. Now she thinks every time I try to talk to her, I want to ask her out on a date and she bonks me on the head. And like Hinata, she's real distinct looking, she's real skinny because she's on a 'diet' and she has pink hair," Naruto described.

"Pink hair!?" Kotero gasped out. Sure, red hair was unique, but pink takes it to a whole new level.

' _What's strange with pink hair?_ ' Naruto thought. He then shrugged. "Yeah, pink hair. You can always spot her in a crowd," he told Kotero.

"From the sound of your description on her, in my honest opinion is that… she's a total bitch!" Kotero said nonchalantly with a sweet smile on his face.

"Kotero-nii that's not nice to say!" Naruto yelped after he heard the words.

"I call it as it looks little man. Now come on, how do you not see it. You're clearly too good for her. Even for a friend. And if she keeps "bonking" you on the head, you're going to get brain damage, and I don't want a yellow potato as a little brother. And if she's a true fangirl, you should stay away from her. They're making a bad case for all kunoichi. They rather focus on "love" and appearances than skills and training," Kotero explained to Naruto.

"It's still not nice to call her a bitch! It's unnecessary," Naruto defended his point.

"Didn't you call someone a teme, like five minutes ago," Kotero countered with a smirk.

"Oh, yeah I did hehe," Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. He gave his bowl to Ayame who went by the duo and then rubbed his bulged belly.

"That was good! So, yeah the teme is some emo kid called Sasuke. He thinks he's better than everyone else just because he's an Uchiha. I swear Kotero-nii, he has a stick stuck up so far up his ass and he refuses to let it out. He's that stuck up. I pinned him as my rival because… well to be honest he is a much better ninja then I am, but the way he acts pisses me off so much," Naruto admitted, speaking in a more negative tone as he kept talking. "He never awknowledges me for anything I do. Even if they were good."

' _It seems the Naruto doesn't really know about the Uchiha clan massacre. It explains why this "Sasuke" is acting like an introvert. But the superiority complex is found in nearly every Uchiha according to what Kaa-chan told me. Because of their Sharingan, they think they are God's gift to mankind. They obviously got too big for their boots if the whole clan was murdered by one of their own in one night! That piece of news did spread like wildfire,_ 'Kotero thought. ' _Sasuke though, maybe Naruto and he can become really good friends. That would be nice. I'll have to find out more about him from the Hokage._ '

"So, you want to take Sasuke down a peg or two huh?" Kotero asked.

"I do yeah! But only to wipe those cocky smirks of his away," Naruto joyfully said.

"Good answer! I don't know, but people who have those 'smirks' really piss me off as well," Kotero said. Kotero hopped off his seat, went to his wallet and put down a stack of ryó on the counter. "Thanks for the lovely food Teuchi-san, Ayame-san. I'm promise us two will be here again," Kotero said with a wink and a wave.

"Come soon back soon you two!" Teuchi shouted from the back.

"Can't wait to see you two again!" she said with a hint of red and a big smile.

"Naruto, come on! We better get to your apartment!" Kotero hastily said.

"Why are we going there? There's nothing nice in my house?" Naruto asked with a confused gaze.

"Well I told Hokage-Jiji that we're going to live together, so I need you to pack your stuff and then we can move in. We're going to be roomies," Kotero replied with a smile.

Naruto facial expression went from confusion to shock to ecstatic. "Eh, I am?" he shouted out in the middle of the street not believing what he heard was correct.

"Yeah, I thought it would be for the best!" Kotero said, looking at him with a serious face.

"But where are we living? What am I supposed to do with my apartment?" Naruto questioned.

Kotero than lightly clapped his hands around Naruto's cheeks. "Naruto! You worry too much, it's bad for the soul!" Kotero said while wagging his index finger. "Jiji said to me he'll sort it so don't even think about. Now we better hurry up," he said.

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

Naruto and Kotero then went off to Naruto's apartment. They were walking side by side. Kotero couldn't help noticing the glares coming from the villagers. He had to resist with all his might not to beat them up for making his little brother feel even more insecure about himself.

As they walked further into the part of town to where Naruto's apartment was, he saw it was getting emptier and quieter. When they arrived at a large apartment complex, it was completely hollow. The windows were moldy with lack of mantenance. There was obscure black graffiti written on the walls.

"Nice place," Kotero said out loud. Never taking his eyes off the damage and vandalism.

"That's not even a bit funny Kotero-nii. Come on, the sooner we pack, the sooner we can go to our new home," Naruto quickly said.

They climbed the stairs until they reached Naruto's floor. They entered inside his small apartment. Kotero had to hold his nose from the smell of the place. It was nauseating. It didn't help that there was there were old ramen cups everywhere, but that wasn't the smell that was getting Kotero's nose in a dire state.

He waltzed into the bathroom and looked at the ceiling. There was black mold damage as old as Naruto and it was thick and disgusting. ' _The landlord does no maintenance I see,_ ' Kotero thought. He scanned his surroundings. There was more mold in the corners. The walls were stained from years of neglect. He peeked at the shower mechanism. The switches were loose from the lack of mantenence. ' _And n_ _either does Naruto. Oh dear lord, what did I get myself into?'_

Kotero looked around more and more. Lifting some old clothes and ramen cups. His face was grwoing more sour by the minute. ' _This place is disgusting. And not only because of the smell and dirt,_ ' he thought with a soured face.

Naruto was taking all his orange wardrobe and laying it on his bed like his big brother asked him to. He also gathered all his instant ramen cups as they are very precious to him. He put his hands on his hips as he was pleased he has everything he needed from the apartment. He looked to his left to see Kotero inspecting parts of the kitchen. ' _What the hell is Nii-chan looking at?'_ he thought _._ "Kotero-Niichan, you ok?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

"Yeah, was just checking out your shitty crib," Kotero answered blankly.

"Oh…" he said glumly while putting his head down.

Kotero walked into Naruto's and he immediately noticed the ramen. Sighing, he started folding his clothes. He then picked up a sleeping cap in shape of a dog. "Naruto what's this thing?" he asked.

"Oh that? That's my sleeping cap. I got it for my birthday two years ago. I got from Inu-niisan," Naruto told him.

' _Inu? Must be an ANBU that was guarding him. I have to thank him for this!'_  Kotero thought. "When is your birthday Naruto?" Kotero asked.

"Tenth of October, it was a couple of days ago," Naruto said as his face turned sombre, eyes getting watery.

' _That was like five days ago!_ _Shit must have bad memories! Oh! I know how to save this!'_ Kotero thought quickly _,_ "Oh? Mine was a month ago on the ninth. This means after I get a bit of money, I have to get you a late birthday present yeah?" Kotero told him.

"Sweet!" Naruto cheered with a jumps and fist pumps.

Kotero whipped out a clean scroll and started to make a large storage seal. "Naruto put all of your stuff on the black markings on the scroll," Kotero said.

Naruto not understanding what was going on but complying. He stacked all his clothes and ramen cups on the seal. Kotero sent some chakra through the seal and the items vanished.

Naruto then freaked out! "What happened?" he screamed out. ' _Oh no! My Ramen!'_ he cried internally.

"What do you mean 'What happened?'. I put your stuff in a storage seal," Kotero said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"WOW! That's so cool!" Naruto said. Naruto then looked and inspected the scroll with great interest.

Kotero started laughing like a madman, earning a strange look from Naruto. "If you think that's cool then you'll be amazed of what fūinjutsu can offer you!" Kotero said with a grin.

"Fūinjutsu? How come we don't learn that in the academy?" Naruto asked.

"To be honest, it's an obscure art. It takes lots of patience and skill to perform it. You need perfect handwriting because if you mess one seal in a sequence or in the foundation of the seal, it can cause a catastrophic accident. Also, it's for the best if you have a seasoned sealer to teach you to make sure you aren't making mistakes," Kotero answered, puting the scroll away with the sealed items inside.

"Oh. Are you a seal-master Nii-chan?" Naruto asked, he had many questions lined up.

"Yea I am, and don't forget it. We Uzumaki love fuinjutsu, so the parents tortured the children to learn it. Our clansmen invested way more of their time into it rather than say ninjutsu or taijutsu. It's our bread and butter!" Kotero answered honestly with a hearty laugh.

"Can you teach it to me? It seems like something I'll need it if I want to be Hokage," Naruto said with his fist thumping his puffed-out chest.

Kotero then smiled and wiped away a fake tear. "Ah Naruto, you warm my heart with those sweet words you say! Of course I'll teach you!" he scooped his little brother up, bear-hugging him in the process. He started vigorously swaying him side-to-side making the Naruto dizzy. Kotero dropped Naruto and he fell on his butt, with birds flying around his head.

"Do you have everything you need?" Kotero asked as he really wants to see his new home.

"Yeah, let's get out of here! The sooner the better," Naruto said while walking out of the door.

Kotero looked back one last time. ' _This place must hold bad memories for Naruto. I'll make sure he has lots of good ones in our new home!_ ' Kotero thought _._ He then followed the little blond out of the door as well.

* * *

**West sector of Konoha**

"Woah, this is our house?" Naruto asked as he has never seen a house as big as this one.

Kotero just smirked as he opened the door for the two. "It is! And don't worry about landlords. I own the property, so nobody will mess it up," Kotero told him.

Naruto can only look in amazement as he eyes widened to see the whole living space in front of him. The house was huge, and they only entered the living room. It already had furniture, a large three-cushioned cream couch with two bachelor chairs in the same fabric across from it.

A glass coffee table between the seats. There was wooden flooring that was oiled beautifully that you can see your own reflection. He saw in the distance a modern kitchen that would put his old unit to absolute shame. Fume hood over the cooker/oven and a large fridge near it. So far, this place was a palace to Naruto.

"Jiji said he left some presents for you Naruto in your new room. Go upstairs to see them. Also take a bath when you're up there, you smell like freaking pork ramen!" Kotero spat out.

Naruto giggled and sprinted up the stairs. He turned to the right and went down the empty corridor. There were five doors. Two on the left, two on the right and finally one in the middle at the end of the corridor. He went into the first room on the right. He didn't know why he picked it apart from the fact that it felt like the right choice. When he entered the room, he was gob-smacked, his jaw hitting the floor.

The room was clean and organised and had a magnificently crafted wooden wardrobe and desk. There was even a double bed in the corner fitting snuggly near the window. He then noticed some items on the bed as he delved further into his new room.

There was a new ninja pouch. A freshly sharpened set of shuriken and kunai. And five sets of identical outfits consisting of black shinobi sandals, black shinobi pants with an orange strip going down the side of the pants. There was a white t-shirt with his clan symbol on the back.

And finally Naruto saw a blue zip-up jacket with three parallel orange stripes going down from the high collar all the way down to the wrists. There was only one jacket where the other items of clothing were a set of five, but the jacket looked expensive. Naruto knew that it would be a waste to buy five of them if he should and could wear just the one.

On the back of the jacket, the Uzumaki swirl was proudly showing itself. The inside of the jacket was completely orange. Naruto's eyes were popping out of their sockets as he was looking through all the new equipment. His blood was pumping with adrenaline and his body was shaking with excitement.

His excitement broke suddenly when an envelope fell from the pocket of the jacket onto the floor. Breathing deeply, he picked up the envelope and sat on his new bed. ' _Comfy! Way better than the piece of crap I called a bed back at the apartment!'_ Naruto joyfully thought.

He opened the packaging and a letter appeared. He put the letter the right way up and began reading it.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I'm thrilled that one of your wishes came true at last, that you finally found family. I have and always will treat you as if you are truly my cherished grandson. However, with my job taking care of the village and her people, I find very little time to spend with you. I'm glad that Kotero-kun has come into our lives as I can expect great things from him and I know he'll be great for the both of us, especially you. Naruto, I am truly hoping that with this event, your life will turn for the better. I want you to become a great ninja. I expect nothing less than that from my successor. Because of this, I wanted to give you a few gifts. I got you some fine equipment and a sharpening stone. I'm sure Kotero will teach you how to maintain your kunai and shuriken. I also thought you needed a change of outfits. Don't worry, I left plenty of orange so you wouldn't get mad, but a ninja isn't supposed to be seen when on missions, so I had the orange on the inside. Now don't disappoint me Naruto. I can see you becoming a fine man, and I wanted to be a part of it._

_The Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato,_

_Sarutobi Hiruzen._

Naruto's tears were freely falling from his eyes. He rolled the letter up and put it in his drawer in his desk for safe keeping. ' _Jiji and Kotero-niichan believe I can become Hokage. I must get stronger. I will never give up!'_ Naruto determinately thought. He grabbed a plain white t-shirt and a pair of grey baggy lounge-pants. He exited his bedroom and looked for the bathroom.

He entered the room across from his bedroom and found a large space. It had cream coloured tiles, turquoise paint ran on the walls and the ceiling was a clean white. As he tiptoed through the room, he couldn't but shiver as the cold floor ran its course into Naruto's small body. He looked to his left and saw himself in the large mirror that was over the sink. It seemed that the mirror was installed directly to the wall. The porcelain sink had golden taps and there were many fragrant soaps around it. He looked down the room and his eyes widened again.

There was a large bath, big enough to hold two people at the same time and still be comfortable. He slowly walked over, marvelling at the beauty of the bath and the whole room. He kneeled and turned the bath taps. Hot water flowed into the large tub. The steam already hitting Naruto's Face. Breathing outside the steam fumes, Naruto then picked up some bath salts and chucked it in, not knowing what the hell to do with it. The explosion of smell instantly went up Naruto's nostrils. ' _That's intense!'_ Naruto mused as he started looking around again.

He saw an ordinary toilet near where the sink was. It seemed to have the same design style as the bath and sink but it didn't look like it had anything unique about. Then in the corner of his eye, he saw a large shower in the corner of the room.

Again, he was surprised at the size of the shower. Like the bath, it could hold two people and still be comfortable. He then saw that it can be used by two people as there was a shower head in the shape of a large rectangle, that was only a bit smaller than the surface area of the shower floor. The hot water was rising so he slowed down the flow of hot water and turned on the cold-water tap. He then got the wooden bath stick that was hanging on a stand beside the tub and started to churn the water.

' _Perfect!'._ Naruto then undressed and slowly descended into the foamy waters. He stretched out his body and cracked a few of his stiff bones. He let his body soak in the first hot bath he had in his life. It was truly relaxing, something he missed through his sad childhood. For the first time that day, Naruto had to think about the events that occurred through that day. To think of all of it was some sort of mega pipe-dream wouldn't be unrealistic.

' _When I entered Jiji's office, I thought it was bullshit from a prank I did ages ago. I'd never have thought I was going to meet my cousin. Hell, I was convinced I had no family whatsoever. Kotero-nii must be one of the coolest guys ever._

 _I glad he's_ _my_ _Nii-chan. Who thought my name, Uzumaki was a super famous clan that were so feared, three major countries had to gang up on our small country. Just shows us that we're amazing. Kotero-nii said that many escaped when the attacks started. I might have more family out there. They'll only be distant cousins, but I'll take any family I can get._

 _It's only been half a day since we met, but it's like me and Kotero-nii already known each other for ages. I don't want to disappoint him with my training now, him and Jiji. They have given me this chance and I have to take it with my two hands!'_  Naruto thought. Naruto sighed and sunk further into the waters, letting his body relax in the fragrant waters _._

' _I should be better, I'm actually pathetic. Sure, I'm fast and I can make traps and the greatest pranks, but as a ninja, I'm crap. Now that I think about, no instructor ever gave a damn about me. But I have to be honest to myself. I did myself no favours. I skipped class. I was cheeky to the instructors. I drove people away because I wanted everyone's attention. I was a brat. But that's going to change._

_I suck because I had no-one to guide me in the right direction, it also doesn't help that I get the bluntest of weapons when we do any type of practice. I never get instructions on my taijutsu and when I try to learn from the scrolls, they tell me I'm doing it wrong._

_I was just ignored. And I just ignored them._

_God, I hope when Kotero-nii trains me, he can and will actually teach me, then I will make my dream come true!'_ Naruto kept on thinking for another five minutes. He then noticed his skin was saturated from the water as wrinkles appeared all over his hands.

He stood up suddenly, letting the water splash around and the bubbles on his body flow down his skin. He unplugged the bath and grabbed a fresh towel. Drying himself thoroughly, he then rubbed the towel intensely into his hair. He threw the towel into the wash bin and put his clothes on.

Cleaning the bath from the bubbles, he didn't want to leave a bad impression for his big brother, so he cleaned the tub. He left the bathroom with a sigh going into his room. He grabbed and put on some slippers and went back downstairs. He saw Kotero bringing a tray with two cups of black tea in his hands. He then set them on the coffee table beside a scroll with some diagrams and writings.

There was an ink brush beside a jar full of the black liquid. Kotero then sat back down and started to write into said scroll.

"What'cha doing Nii-chan? Looks interesting!" Naruto asked, wanting to get to know of his big brother. He sat down on the couch and took the other cup and began to drink it. His face scrunched up as the hot liquid went down his throat. "AH! Nii-chan, how do you drink this stuff? It's so bitter!" Naruto complained.

"Well black tea always helps me concentrate when I'm doing this kind of work. And to answer your question, I'm writing down some of my findings. I've been experimenting with medical ninjutsu and seals. I'm trying to develop a seal that let's medical chakra flow through the body, healing any wounds around the body while in combat at a constant rate. I haven't made much progress but I'm not going to stop, this is too good of an idea to let go," Kotero answered whilst not taking one eye away from the scroll.

Naruto could only stare in awe. Although he had no idea what any of it means. To him it sounded like the smartest thing he has ever heard. ' _Kotero-nii is a genius,_ 'Naruto thought as he drank more of the bitter beverage. "So, when did you start working on it?" he asked.

"During when my Mother was dying of her illness. I thought if I could make this healing seal, it could stabilize her, but she was getting weaker and this seal was much harder to create than what I hoped for," Kotero replied with a dejected and sorrowful look.

Naruto picked up on this and felt awful for bring painful memories back for his big brother. "Sorry," He said glumly.

Kotero's face changed from one to sadness to surprise. "Sorry? Naruto, you had no idea your Aunt was dying. Don't feel bad for making me feel sad. Don't worry about talking about my Mother to me. She was your Aunt as well, so you do have a right to know about her. I'm sure if she saw you she would squeeze you to death and say that you're the 'cutest thing ever!'. Yeah, I'm positive she would have loved you the instant you would've met," Kotero said with unbreakable belief.

Naruto smiled deeply at this, feeling loved was something so new to him, it was addicting. He finished his tea then he set it on the table besides Kotero's empty cup. He looked at his brother once more. Completely enamoured by the concentration that he is showing. Naruto felt tired, his body wanted to lay down and a small yawn escaped his lips. However, his curiosity needed to be fed first or he'd be up all night. "Kotero-nii, what kind of training are we going to do?" Naruto asked.

The room was quiet, the only noise was the inkbrush making its mark on the paper. Kotero looked up to Naruto's gaze when he finished writing. He put his hands to his face and placed his elbows on his legs.

"After you finished with the academy tomorrow, we're going to do training in the training grounds behind the house. I'll let you know what we'll do when we are there. After, we eat dinner and I'll begin to teach you fūinjutsu. How does that sound?" Kotero asked with a sly smirk, knowing what reaction he will get from his hyper-active little brother.

"Sweet! I'm going to get so strong Kotero-nii, this is my first step into becoming the Hokage!" Naruto announced.

"Man, I hope you're that enthusiastic when we do the next training session after tomorrow's. Now Naruto, get to bed now. You'll need plenty of sleep if want to grow another inch," Kotero ordered with a hint of laughter.

Naruto's forehead grew tic marks and his eyes narrowed on Kotero. "Just you wait! I'll have a growth spurt and then I'll be taller than you!" he shouted while pointing his finger at Kotero. Naruto ran up the stairs to his room to go sleep, he kept muttering "I'll be the tallest man alive!"

All Kotero could do was laugh his ass off as he fell from his chair. After the slam of a door, Kotero calmed himself and went back to work before going to bed himself.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Naruto woke up, his alarm clock was ringing at a loud volume. Slamming the button on the top of the clock to stop the annoyance. His ears were ringing, he rolled out of bed and rubbed his eyes with his hands. Trying hard not to get back under the covers to continue the greatest sleep he ever had, he hopped out of bed.

Doing some quick stretches and cracking his back to get that satisfactory pop. Naruto strolled into the bathroom to wash his face. He filled the basin with warm water and scooped some in his hands and splashed it in his face. He then massaged his temples, forehead and cheeks. He grabbed the hand towel and then dried his face. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but not smile. The small and dark, noticeable bags that were usually under his eyes have disappeared and his skin glowed.

' _Must be from the bath last night,_ ' he thought.

Naruto went back to his room and quickly got his equipment ready for his day at the academy. He then sat on the comfy chair that was beside his new desk and got dressed. He wrapped his elastic bandages from the top of his ankles to just underneath his knees.

Naruto wrapped the bandages on his wrist to act as wrist guards. He puts on his new clothes, the black shinobi pants hugging nicely on Naruto's legs, ending hallway down his shin cupping the lower calf. Naruto grabbed his t-shirt, with some quick motions, the t-shirt went over his head and covered his torso. Wrapping his new jacket around his upper body, Naruto zipped it up until the metal zip pin was just at his chest.

Getting new shoes made everyone excited. Naruto was no different. He pulled out his new shinobi sandals and wiggled his small bt growing feet into them. It was a perfect fit.

The very last job was the easiest. Taking the roll of his new shinobi bandage wraps that the Hokage gave to him, Naruto wrapped it around his thigh on his right leg, finishing it off by strapping his shuriken holster onto the bandage.

Naruto looked at himself in his huge mirror that was hidden in the room. He had to admit he looked a lot more like a ninja instead of wearing all that orange on the outside of his clothes. But in all honesty, he liked the colour orange and he loved wearing it. It always brightened up his day.

' _It's what is in the inside that counts,_ ' Naruto thought as he looked lovingly at the orange inside his new blue jacket.

Naruto went down the stairs in his slippers, and turned to see his big brother was putting breakfast on the table. A strange feeling was pitted deep inside of him. ' _I usually have a cup ramen for breakie and now I'm actually getting a meal. I could get used to this! But still, nothing can ever beat the amazing taste that is ramen!_ ' he thought.

"Wow, someone looks good!" Kotero said with a happy smile accompanying his face.

Naruto puffed out his chest, "I know I do ttebayo!" Naruto cheered out.

Naruto went to his seat beside the table and saw the assortment of food. There was a bowl of fruit, not that he was complaining, but Naruto wasn't a big fan of fruit or vegetables.

There was also a small bowl of rice, a small bowl of vegetable soup. A platter of salmon and what looked like some sort of bread. "Kotero-nii, this looks good but what's this?" said pointing at the strange bread.

"That Naruto is sour-dough bread. It's a thing I picked up on my travels. It's very filling and it's slow to digest, it'll help you with your hunger throughout the day. Now come on eat up! You need your energy for what I have in store for you!" Kotero replied while Eating his own breakfast.

Naruto dug into the rice and fish first, without noticing, it vanished as he ate it so fast. He then looked at the soup and bowl of fruit. He just gulped and took a taste of the soup. And to his surprise, it was tasty, no it was delicious!

Naruto gulped it down as if it was water. He then looked at the fruit bowl again, it was colourful, and it looked a lot better than the fruit he scrounged around for or picked in the wild. He took a bite out of an orange slice and a citrusy flavour exploded in his mouth. It was amazingly tangy. He then picked up a strawberry and chewed it down. The sweet juice of the berry slid down his throat like honey. Naruto then tried each fruit piece, not knowing the wonders of fresh fruit.

' _Seems like ramen isn't the only nice thing in the world!'_ he thought with disbelief _._

Kotero got a milk carton from the fridge, opened it and slid it down to Naruto. Naruto finished his fruit and downed the milk in record time. Naruto wiped his mouth clean with a happy sigh. "What are your plans for today while I'm at the academy?" Naruto asked his big brother.

Kotero closed the fridge door and sat back down in his chair across from Naruto. "Well I'm going to put security seals around the house, so no-one can break in or vandalise it. I paid too much money for some asshole to break a window or something like that. Then I'll do a quick work out and work on the healing seal I told you about last night. And if I get annoyed and blow some steam, I'll ask Jiji if I can help around before my probation ends," Kotero answered while sipping on his black tea.

Naruto just listened to Kotero, still amazed by the fact that Kotero was working on something like that. He looked at the clock and it was twenty past eight. His class didn't start till nine, however he lived a bit further away from the academy now. He didn't want to be late on the day he was going to take things seriously. "Kotero-nii, I'm going to class now," Naruto said with a neutral tone but went over to his brother and gave him a tight hug.

Kotero returned it and ruffled Naruto's hair slightly and gave him a nod. Naruto checked his equipment one more time, satisfied, he went out of the door and walked to the academy.

Naruto noticed there were less people in his path from his new home. Thankful to his new home that he didn't to deal with such unrestrained hate as much now. He made it to the academy with no troubles whatsoever. He stopped mid-way and looked to the lone tree with a wooden swing set. He remembered himself swinging on it, nobody to talk to, all alone. More reason to be thankful for his big brother's appearance, all that loneliness and sadness that was built up for years and years is being dissolved away. Feeling loved can do wonders for the soul.

He entered the academy and strolled into the classroom. It wasn't full yet and he scanned the room. The only other students that were there were Shino, Shikamaru, Chōji, Sasuke and some civilian family kids. There was an empty seat beside Shikamaru, so he went and claimed it for himself.

Even if he admits that he didn't really have friends, Shikamaru and himself were always on friendly terms and shared banter when they wanted a bit of trouble. To say in Shikamaru words "the day is too troublesome" just to sit around and listen to Iruka, so sometimes they would skip class, but somehow Iruka always found them.

"Yo, what's going on Shikamaru? Chōji?" Naruto asked them, trying to act a bit like his new big brother.

The two stared up at Naruto as if he was a stranger, a new student. When they saw his mop of blonde hair and his trade-mark whisker marks. They finally cracked the puzzle. "Naruto!?" they both said in quiet shock. The Naruto they knew was louder, more brash, and wore more orange, a lot more orange.

"You know it ttebayo," he said with a smirk and took his seat beside Shikamaru. Laughing internally at the two faces of complete shock. ' _Everyone is going freak out how much I changed in one-day hehe!'_ Naruto giggled inside his head.

Shikamaru composed himself after the biggest shock for him in the school year. "Naruto, not that I'm complaining but what happened to you?" Shikamaru asked, his interest in the blond grew hugely in just a couple seconds.

Naruto simply replied with "Everything," and he ended it with a wink.

Shikamaru huffed and muttered "troublesome blondes."

However, Shikamaru wasn't going to give up on why Naruto changed so drastically, he was going to get to the bottom of this.

"You want some food Naruto?" Chōji offered, the two would often talk about what they would describe God's gift of food to mankind that is ramen.

"Yeah sure. Thank you, Chōji," Naruto answered with a smile, grabbing some potato crisps and eating them.

The three just then talked about life in general and cloud watching. It was a good discussion. The classroom was filling up as the clock was turning closer to nine o'clock. Suddenly, two girls raced into the classroom and suddenly stopped in the row where Sasuke sat. The two were arguing who got there first, and the other girls started grouping around them. The classroom was filled with screeches, Naruto had to resort to cover his ears.

Then the pink-haired girl, went over and bonked the head of the poor soul that was sitting beside Sasuke. Naruto looked up at the scene and saw Sasuke was brooding, his eyebrows were twitching, and his face wore a dark expression. The girl, Sakura was yapping about her day yesterday and other nonsense when she sat down beside him. Naruto turned around, so he was facing the blackboard and began to rub his temples.

' _I see where Kotero-nii was coming from and he never met her before. I wouldn't call her what Nii-chan called her myself, but I can see she's not the nicest person ever,_ ' Naruto thought.

Naruto recollected all the events concerning himself, Sakura, Ino and the fangirls and he realised that every one of them had to do with diverting their attention off Sasuke to him and getting beat up in the process. He shivered like crazy.

' _Maybe another reason why I picked him as my rival, I was jealous of all the attention he was getting while being broody!'_ Naruto thought after sighing _._

The door to the classroom door opened and two men walked in and went behind the desk. "Good morning class!" they both said.

All the students scattered to the remaining seats and quieted down. "Good morning Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei," the class replied in mixed voices.

Iruka scanned the classroom and saw that there was no blob of orange in one the chairs. "Where's Naruto? Did he skip class?" he asked a bit irritated.

"I'm here Iruka-sensei," Naruto said while putting his hand up. Everyone in the class gasped as they noticed the new appearance of the blond loud-mouth.

The most surprised was Iruka, the sudden change sucker-punched him. He recomposed himself and gave a shaky smile, "Great that you're here! Now let's get started on the class," He said.

The lessons dragged on until it was noon and the bells rang. They students got up and left for the courtyard. Naruto cracked his knuckles and began walking with Shikamaru and Chōji to some shade under the large oak tree. They all sat in a triangle on the soft patch of grass. Shikamaru was watching the clouds, Chōji was nibbling on a bento lunch box and Naruto was munching on some of Kotero's sour dough bread.

"Naruto, after school, Shikamaru and I are going to Yakiniku Q for some food. You want to join us?" Chōji asked, having enjoyed his time with the blond.

Shikamaru looked like his was just lazing about but he was carefully watching Naruto. Analysing any new details and behaviours he would show, he had to admit, this Naruto was much more enjoyable to hang around with, he was more realistic then the loudmouth before. The itch to know what caused this change was irritating him, he wanted to scratch it out immediately, but he was too lazy and not desperate enough to do so.

"Sorry guys, I have to disappoint you, I have to do some training after this. We can go there or have some ramen some other time," he said with a saddened tone. He was amazed how quickly the friendship between himself and the two others grew by acting a little calmer and putting an effort into the conversation instead of saying something related to the Hokage every three seconds.

"Training? What kind of training?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Honestly, I have no idea?" Naruto said with a smile.

"Huh!" was all he got from the two other boys.

"I don't know what training I'm going to be doing, someone else will tell me what to do!" Naruto answered their unspoken question with honesty.

"Who's going to be training you Naruto?" Chōji asked while opening a bag of potato crisps and started to munch on them.

The old Naruto would have blurted out that Kotero was going to be teaching him, but he needed to be mature, to become the Hokage and get answers of who his father is, he needed to show the Hokage that he was maturing. "Actually, I don't know if I can tell you. I'll ask him and I'll tell you then," he answered calmly.

They weren't satisfied with the answer, but neither were going to push the subject. They sat there for a little while longer, Chōji was still snacking on something and Naruto started pulling on the blades of the grass. Shikamaru was noticing the strange looks some of his fellow students were giving Naruto. ' _Must be the outfit change if I had to guess,_ ' he thought.

The bell rang, and everyone went back inside into the classroom, the trio retook their seats and waited for the teachers. Iruka and Mizuki came back in and resumed the lesson where they left off. It was the longest two hours in Naruto's life. Compared to how Kotero describes history or how his sealing works, the lessons were crap. No more, no less.

However, whenever the Shodai or Nidaime Hokage were mentioned, Naruto perked up with a smile, remembering the relation between his clan and the Senju clan.

Unbeknownst to him, Shikamaru noticed this as well, ' _I wonder what's going through that thick skull of his?_ ' Shikamaru thought.

The lesson ended and the children left the class. Shikamaru, Chōji and Naruto walked out of the academy together, talking about whatever was on their minds. They were the first students to leave the building. When they got close to the gates Naruto heard his name.

"Oi Naruto!" Kotero said while leaning on the fence that was enclosing the academy grounds. In his usual attire and with his forehead protecter, the only items he didn't have on him were his flak jacket and swords.

Naruto turned to see his big brother, his face lighting up even more, "Nii-chan, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh... Am I not allowed to pick you up? I'm shocked, and here I thought you liked my company," Kotero jokingly said while grasping his heart.

"No, it's just that I didn't expect to see you, that's all!" he answered quickly.

"Good! You know I have sensitive feelings!" Kotero said in a cynical tone. He then saw a young boy with pineapple shaped black hair and a large boy with brown hair eating some food. "Naruto, why haven't you introduced me to your friends?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, this is Akimichi Chōji and Nara Shikamaru," Naruto said while letting Kotero walk over to the pair.

"It's lovely to meet you two. My name is Uzumaki Kotero," Kotero said with a smile, putting his hand out for the two to shake them.

The two shook his hand and they both exchanged greetings. As this was going on, murmurs of other students were heard by all of them. The children were wondering who the new person was and why was he hanging out with Naruto.

"It's nice to meet ya and all, but I need to get this little man out of here, so I can repair him," Kotero said with a sickly-sweet smile while patting Naruto's shoulder.

"Repair?" Chōji asked, completely not understanding what Kotero had meant.

"He means he's going to train Naruto. Isn't that right Kotero-san?" Shikamaru said with a bored expression.

' _Like Naruto said yesterday, he's smarter than he looks,_ ' Kotero mused. "Yeah you're correct. And bin the honorifics, just call me Kotero or I'll call you pineapple-chan," Kotero replied with a smirk as he heard laughing from Chōji and Naruto.

Grabbing Naruto's shoulder, "See you two later, and I know we are going get along just right," Kotero said with a wink. Then he and Naruto vanished via a body-flicker that left a subtle breeze of wind.

Chōji and Shikamaru stood there in silence. "That guy is cool," Chōji stated as he walked to a bin to put his wrapper away.

The duo began their walk to the BBQ restaurant. Shikamaru was going over what happened with Naruto and the appearance of the new Uzumaki. "I have to ask Oyaji about this. He'll tell what I need to know," Shikamaru told Chōji as they entered the restaurant. "I'm sure it won't be last time we see him," he said after, as the Nara and Akimichi heirs took their seats to eat.

* * *

**Uzumaki Residence**

Naruto and Kotero appeared at their house's training grounds. It was large clearing of dirt that had a large white rectangle making a small battle pitch, it was twenty metres wide and fifty metres long. There were training posts on the far side of the battle pitch and on the close side, there were bullseye targets and target dummies.

Kotero went over into the middle of the battle pitch and motioned Naruto to follow him. "Come on now Naruto, we need to do some good ol' exercise!" he said.

"Yes Nii-chan!" Naruto replied enthusiastically.

"Alright send some chakra into the heart piece to activate level one. And prepare yourself for the sudden change," Kotero ordered Naruto.

Naruto flowed some chakra from his finger tips and placed them on the metal piece on the strap. The metal glowed a light blue. Naruto felt the change immediately, his body fell to the ground. Picking himself up, he dusted off his trousers and looked up at Kotero.

"God, this is heavy!" Naruto commented on the sudden change.

"Well I hope it is! Alright GO! Do ten laps around the white line!" Kotero barked out his orders. Naruto darted off doing the laps. He felt the strain on his muscles already, he felt as if he was running through water. As he was starting to build up a sweat he finished his tenth lap and stood in front of Kotero, breathing heavily.

"Fifty push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, sit-ups and fifteen pull-ups!  **COME ON! GET TO IT! I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!** " Kotero shouted. Naruto paled and quickly got to the ground to start doing his push-ups. Kotero watched him like a hawk, and when Naruto got to his forty-second push-up, Kotero slammed his foot into Naruto's back, making him drop to the ground.

"What the hell was that!? Don't be a bitch and do a half push-up. Take ten seconds and then do twenty more for your mistake!" Kotero yelled at Naruto, scaring him.

Naruto took deep breathes to regain his cool. ' _What the hell was I thinking, Nii-chan is insane!'_ he cried inside his head.

"Come on Naruto, that's ten seconds, or do you want me to add more!?" Kotero barked out. Naruto got to back to his push-ups, he saw Kotero also doing push-ups along with him, as a sign of support.

Naruto finished his added push-ups and immediately got to his squats. After his second squat, his legs were pulled from him and he fell on his rear. "You call that a  **SQUAT!** What the hell are they teaching you in the academy!? Here Naruto watch me," he said. Kotero then did a low body squat with perfect form, "Now you do the same. Feet stuck to ground and think 'ass to grass' alright!" Kotero yelled at him.

Naruto not wanting to add to Kotero's wrath, quickly got to it. He did and finished the squats without any disruptions and began his jumping jacks. When the fiftieth was done, he heard Kotero mutter "At least they got one thing right," under his breath. He breathed deeply and raspy, sweat was pooling on his fore head and his hands were getting clammy. Naruto was then lead by Kotero to the pull-up bars.

"You know how to do a pullup, right?" Kotero asked. Receiving a nod from Naruto, he then pointed his finger at the bar. Naruto jumped and grabbed the bar and began to do his pull-ups. He was struggling all the way through. On his fifth pull-up, he was hand palmed in the stomach, hard. He fell off the bars and onto the floor. "Your form was terrible in the last one. Take another ten seconds and start where you left off!" Kotero said with a commanding tone.

Naruto breathed as if his life depended on it. He got back up and did his pull-ups. He took his time and finished his set. He dropped to the ground and sucked the oxygen out of the air. Kotero smiled and went over to Naruto. He had a bottle of ice-cold water, a towel and a strange looking brown bar.

"Good work Naruto! Seems like Jiji was right that you had crazy stamina and can take lots of punishment. Clean yourself up, drink and eat this," Kotero said. He then handed Naruto the items and walked away from him.

Naruto used the towel to wipe the sweat off his face and poured the drink down his throat. He took the brown bar and scoffed it down. The taste was bland, and the texture felt strange and funny on his tongue. Then suddenly, a rush of energy flowed through his body. He was amazed, the difference of how he felt from only a minute ago was monumental.

"Nii-chan, what was that bar, I feel amazing after eating it," Naruto asked.

"Oh, it's an energy bar. The bar itself is based off the soldier pill recipe, it is easily digested and gives you more energy," Kotero answered as he was getting a box of shuriken, kunai and a pouch of senbon needles and placing them on the ground.

Naruto stood up and walked over to where the targets were. "We going to do target practice now?" he asked.

"Yes. You did tell me your aim was awful so it's something we need to improve. Now Naruto do you the difference between the different ways you have to throw shuriken, kunai and senbon needles?" Kotero asked Naruto.

"I was told but I don't think they explained it well to me or I even listened hehe," Naruto admitted.

"Alright, it looks like I have to give a quick crash course. The shuriken is, in my opinion the easiest out of the three to throw and master. It has perfect weight distribution and is completely symmetrical, so it's very easy to grip it properly when you're throwing it.

The kunai is a little harder to throw compared to the shuriken. It has a big head and a thin handle, so most of the weight is centred at the thickest part of the blade. So that means when we're throwing it, we give it a slight angle towards the sky, and I mean a tiny angle Naruto. You also must throw it a little higher than the intended target, because as it travels it dips. Don't worry about it too much, as you get better it'll come naturally.

Senbon needles are the hardest to master, but they are my favourite. Many ninja today are too good to get killed by shuriken and kunai, so when I use senbon needles, I can immobilize enemies and go in for the attack, if not kill them straight away with them. The needles are hard to master because you must be dead accurate. Certain places on the body, such as the neck and throat can make your body numb and stop the functions of some of your muscles. The needles can be used for therapy or put you in a near-death state.

Because they are long and thin, you can only throw them straight at the target. Shuriken can curve and kunai dip, but these needles can only follow a straight path or you'll miss your target and the needle would be useless," Kotero lectured to Naruto.

The blond Uzumaki just nodded along, soaking in every detail. He was engrossed by Kotero's explanations once again. Kotero was so easy to follow for Naruto.

"Ok! Now throw some shuriken at the training dummy. I'll see your form and fix it along the way," Kotero said as he stood beside Naruto. Naruto then went some distance, got into a comfortable stance and had his shuriken in hand. He then took a deep breath, focused on the targets and quickly threw the shuriken. He was surprised that they hit the wooden targets on the dummy's body, but they were nowhere near the black centre dot.

"Hm, that was better than I expected, but the enemy isn't going to be staying the one place and you missed the centres," Kotero said from the side. He walked over and started moving Naruto's body parts to put him in a new stance. "Now try it like this, but stiffen your shoulder a bit, have you elbow in line with the targets and your wrist isn't loose enough when you throw them," Kotero advised him.

Naruto took Kotero's advice in. When the last set of his shuriken were picked off the targets, Naruto settled into his new stance, breathed deeply once more. He aimed his elbow at the first target and threw the star. He repeated this with the other targets with as much pace he could muster.

"Nice work! Look at the difference Naruto, the shuriken are in deeper and they're closer to the target. Now we're going to repeat this until you get it right or if I get bored and move onto the next exercise," Kotero said while crossing his arms. The two brothers then practised Naruto's aim for the next forty-five minutes. He improved but out of every five throws, miss the target completely.

"Come on Naruto, we only have one exercise left before we get dinner," Kotero yelled as he went back toward the middle of the battle pitch. Naruto quickly followed. Lagging a bit behind, still not used to his new and intense training.

Kotero got several leaves and dumped them in the centre of the pitch. He then sat down and crossed his legs in a meditative position. Naruto finally reached him and sat directly across, mimicking the position Kotero was using. Naruto was wondering what they're going to do now.

"Naruto, how bad is your chakra control?" Kotero asked with a hint of a smile.

Naruto narrowed his eyes on Kotero. "Why do you think it's bad?" he asked.

"Well, am I wrong?" Kotero said with an evil smirk.

Naruto puffed his cheeks and looked angry at Kotero. "It's like everything else dattebayo, it's crap!" he admitted, disappointed that he's skills were terrible.

"Okay, that's all I needed to hear. You're going to do chakra control exercises every day, this will help conserve chakra, even though you have a ton, and it will improve your ninjutsu making them more effective. You may think it's boring, but anything is possible with chakra! So, I want you to stick these leaves to your forehead and fingertips. Once you got one on your forehead and a leaf on every finger, we're going to use chakra to rotate the leaves in place. Like this!" Kotero said. Kotero then showed what he just explained by rotating the leaves on his fingers and forehead. The leaves were moving extremely quickly, like propellers as a buzzing noise was coming off them.

"You need to make your chakra to have a suction effect on the leaves, if you apply force outward, it'll just shred the leaf. And since you're right handed it'll be easier for your chakra to rotate clockwise," he explained. Kotero then got up and walked towards the house wall.

"Once you learn how to do that exercise, you will be learning this!" he then climbed the walls and got up to the roof. "Next thing you know you'll walking on water and climbing waterfalls," Kotero said with a gleeful smile.

Naruto once again was amazed, his brother climbed the wall as if it was the ordinary floor. He looked at the leaves and tried the exercise, but he couldn't do it at all and failed miserably.

"Naruto, you're rushing it. Try it with just your forehead first, then include your fingers. And don't try spinning them until they all stick on your fingers. And do the same thing, one at a time. I know you want to be Hokage, but even the Hokage took their time training. It's how smart you train, not just how much. You could waste hours doing it your way, or spend a fraction of time doing it the smart way. NOW! Go do that until I call for dinner, I'll make you a big meal for the work you did today," Kotero yelled from the rooftop. He jumped down and landed silently on the ground, he then waved at Naruto, going inside to prepare for the feast to come.

Naruto looked at the leaves again, thinking through Kotero's words. ' _It's not how much I train, it's how smart I train. I see why Kotero-nii is so strong while he's only a few years older than me, he's been training hard and smart ever since he could! I better prove that I'm worth teaching.'_ He thought _._ Naruto then picked up a lone leaf and placed it on his forehead. He applied his chakra to it, but it instantly slid off. ' _Not enough chakra!'_ Naruto thought.

He tried it again and this time the leaf blew off from the force, ' _Damn! Now it's too much!'_ Naruto thought.

This happened for about ten minutes, finally the leaf was stuck to Naruto's forehead. ' _Sweet! Now stay still!'_ he internally cried. He stayed in place and the leaf didn't budge, he swayed his head from side to side, and yet the leave didn't fall off. Smiling for his small achievement. He started to put leaves on his right hand.

He started with the thumb, and thankfully it didn't fall off instantly. Then he put one on the index finger but it fell off, he tried again and now it blasted off. In the hour and a half that Naruto was trying to control the leaves he only got as far as holding leaves on his forehead and right hand. He found it very difficult to maintain the control. And when he tried putting some leaves on his left hand, there was too much to concentrate with. He was going to attempt it once more.

"Naruto! Grub is done, get in before it gets cold," Kotero shouted from the kitchen. Naruto immediately went inside to see a meal fit for kings.

On the table, there was a huge assortment of sushi. There were tons of different pieces, most of them had a type of fish n them. There was also a large bowl of vegetables placed beside where Naruto. There was the same soup from the morning, just a larger bowl. A rice bowl, more vegetables and an instant ramen cup was also present.

Naruto wasted no time and dug into the food. He was hoovering the ramen noodles, and stuffing his face with the sushi. After he ate the cup and his plate. He went to the soup and sucked all up. Having a small burp, he scoffed down the rice bowl.

Finally, Naruto looked at what was remaining, he grimaced at the veggie bowl and salads. He gulped and ate as quickly as possible, ' _Uh, why can't it taste porky!?'_  he thought _._  After five minutes of munching on broccoli, spinach and other greens. He sighed and drank the water that was the table.

"So, how far did you get?" Kotero asked with one eye focused on Naruto.

"It's hard Nii-chan. I got the leaves to stick to my forehead eventually, then all the fingertips on my right hand. But when I tried with my left hand, it went downhill. I couldn't keep it sticking and they all slid off," Naruto complained as he went off to the couch to lie down.

"It's not supposed to be easy Naruto! You'll get it soon enough. It will be a week or a month from now. I know you can do it. I sensed your chakra is wild, and it'll be harder for you to control it. And before you ask, I was just blessed when it comes to chakra control, thank my lucky stars or something like that!" Kotero said loudly while he was cleaning the dishes.

' _Naruto's chakra must be wild for either two reasons, actually it's probably becuase of these reasons. He is clearly untrained at controlling his chakra. Poor boy, he has so much that any he does it's going to be too much. The other must be because of the Kyūbi. The seal within him must be affecting his chakra pathways. I'll have to find out what seal is used. It's must likely the Eight Trigrams Seal. An Uzumaki seal is the only calibre of seal that can restrain the Kyūbi,_ ' Kotero thought.

Naruto was listening to him intentl. It felt nice to know that Kotero believed in him. He felt his tiredness catch up to body. Before he even realised his world turned to darkness and he fell into a nap.

* * *

**The Nara Compound**

"I'm home," Shikamaru said as he opened his house door.

"Ah, Shika you're home. Want to play a game of Shogi?" an older man known as Shikaku asked his son.

Shikamaru smirked at his dad, "Sure thing Oyaj," he said. The two walked into another room where a shogi board was set up. They sat in their respective places and started their game.

Both were concentrating hard but by their standards they would call it casual. Shikamaru remembered a certain redhead that he had his dad about. "Oyaji?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hm?" was all he got from the scarred man.

"Today, something strange happened," he said.

"What do you mean by strange?" Shikaku said while focusing his gaze onto his son's eyes.

"Naruto changed," Shikamaru stated simply.

Shikaku was now very interested but didn't let it show. "How has he changed?" he asked.

"He has a new outfit for starters, thankfully he isn't as loud as he used to be and the conversations he had with Chōji and me weren't troublesome," Shikamaru said with a bored tone, waving his hands in a lazy motion.

Shikaku thought on the words carefully, knowing it was the appearance of the new Uzumaki that caused the change. His concentration was broken by his son.

"Some guy called Kotero was at the academy gates, he was waiting for Naruto. They seemed to know each other because Naruto did call him Nii-chan, and now that I think about, they look similar and they both have the Uzumaki name," Shikamaru yawned out the last part.

"What do you think of Kotero?" Shikaku asked.

A small grin and a twinkle appeared in his eyes. "I like him, he's funny and laid-back. Also, he seems like a powerful ninja. I can see that Naruto looks up to him. To be honest, I want to get to know him better," Shikamaru said.

A small grin similar to his son's, grew on Shikaku's face. He had to hand it to his son when it came to analysing people or situations, he always hit the nail on the head. "You're correct to assume that he's a powerful ninja. We had a council meeting two days ago about Kotero," he told his son.

"Oh? And what did you find out about him?" Shikamaru asked as he was more interested in the new redhead than playing shogi.

"He had an evaluation to test his skills before he was allowed to become a ninja to the village as he was an outsider. According to the reports, he defeated two Jōnin and came out in top in both matches in most aspects. Hatake Kakashi, one of our elite Jōnin was beaten by him. He gave his own report on Kotero in the meeting. Even though both Kotero and Kakashi weren't going one hundred percent, he was easily a Jōnin through and through. Even the Hokage said so," Shikaku said. "I'm looking forward to the day I meet this Uzumaki Kotero."

Shikamaru was stunned by the revelation, ' _No wonder Naruto was stuck to him like glue!_ ' he thought.

A sly grin took its place on Shikamaru's face. "I take it that I'm going to hear more stories about him in the future then?" he said as more of a statement than a question.

"Hm, yes I'm sure he'll make a big name for himself and checkmate," Shikaku stood up and left, leaving a confused Shikamaru staring at the board.

"Damn. I lost again!" Shikamaru said to no-one in particular, and left the room himself.

* * *

**At The Uzumaki Residence**

"And that's how basic sealing works," Kotero said, as he was drawing a basic seal and showing Naruto basic seal diagrams.

"So, there are types of seals have a unique type of foundation, and for any purpose you need an array of markings and other intricate seals to form a chain. This chain is usually in the shape of a circle, straight or curved line as these are the most basic and if one of the seals isn't right, the chain is broken and the seal simply doesn't work or it can blow up. Is that everything?" Naruto said as his mouth was running dry.

"Yea in its simplest terms, that's right. But it's not completely true. Seals comes in all shapes and sizes. You might need a Kanji instead of another seal, or a special curve to make a pathway. And I didn't go into the foundation part. There are three common seal foundations that I'd say dominate the sealing world. There's chakra infused ink seals and chakra infused blood seals. And chakra seals that are created on the go, so essentially just your own chakra.

These seals are hard for even the experienced. The other types are only mentioned because people experimented to try to make new types of seals but there was no point as anything you could do with those, you could just use ink or blood, and the seals themselves were very inefficient. We're not going to talk about them at all just to let you know," Kotero said. Currently he was acting in his 'Teacher mode' that Naruto dubbed.

"So, what's next?" Naruto asked.

Taking a clean scroll, a new brush and a jar of ink. Kotero handed Naruto the items. "You're going to practice your handwriting now. It must be perfect if you want to be anywhere good at sealing. So, you're going to go through these difficult exercises in this book. The book is filled with kanji and various symbols. Start here and draw them all in nice even spacings. Try and get it as close to what the picture looks like. When you finished the page, redo it and I'll have a look at what you did tomorrow," Kotero answered. He then stood up and gathered some of his scrolls and went for the door.

"Do that for an hour. Then, clean yourself up and go to bed. Also... good work out there, you were fantastic already Naruto. We might practice a bit of basic ninjutsu tomorrow. I'm going to do some work in my study," Kotero said before he left Naruto's room.

After he heard the door for the study close, he dived straight into work. He looked the first Kanji and it was for water. ' _I should just take my time with this!'_  Naruto thought as he slowly copied the kanjis on the page, not trying to screw up with his terrible handwriting skills. Time flew by and before he knew it, it was already ten o'clock. He got off his chair and put away his brush and jar of water, not letting dry out.

Naruto left his work on his desk as he knows he's going to go back to it tomorrow. He was getting excited for the next day, learning ninjutsu. However he remembered something bad. ' _I don't know my hand seals,_ 'he thought with disappointment. He left his room and went to where the study was. He knocked on the door lightly.

"Come in," he heard so he opened the door to see Kotero working on his seal again.

"What's the matter Naruto, you look sad. Did something go wrong?" Kotero asked with concern dripping out of his voice.

Naruto felt nervous, he didn't know what his reaction would be once Kotero finds out that he can't do basic hand seals. "Eh, Kotero-nii, I need to work on hand seals, because I don't know my hand seals," Naruto admitted with his head looking down at his feet.

There was silence for about five seconds. "Alright, we'll just add to the never-ending list of what I need to teach you! I'll tell ya about one right now. For the ox hand seal, you put your left hand up like this, spread out your fingers, then with your right hand's fingers, you put them between the gaps with the pinkie finger of the right hand going on the outside. There are eleven others, and these make up the basic hand seals. We'll have a look at it tomorrow when we train again. You cool with that?" Kotero responded to his little brother.

Naruto nods his head, and then formed the ox hand seal. He smiled from the ease, he wondered on why he would struggle with this before today. Naruto was about to set off but was stopped by Kotero grabbing his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Kotero's happy face. Kotero then kneeled down and put his other hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto, I have one piece of advice for you," he said, his amethyst eyes piercing into Naruto's clear cerulean blue.

"What is it Kotero-nii?" Naruto questioned with curiosity.

"You want to be the best, right?" he asked.

"Of course I do! How else am I going to be Hokage?" Naruto cried out.

A small laugh escaped Kotero's lips, he calmed down and focused on Naruto. "It's good to have that goal. However, we're ninja, and ninja are known for their deception right. So, promise me, that you'll stay toward the bottom or even go as far to the middle of the class in the academy. And hear me out before you complain! There's an old saying; "A famous ninja, is a dead ninja."

If you stick out from the crowd then you'll be targeted by ninja from other villages. That's bad! And if the enemy ninja underestimates you, then you can destroy them with your hidden superior skills. So, be average to the eye, but amazing in the heart. If only you and your comrades know your true strength, then you have a big advantage. Do you see where I'm coming from," Kotero said with a raised eye-brow.

Naruto thought over the words. It made sense, it would benefit him a lot more rather than paint a huge target on his back. The desire to show everyone how great he was very strong but he didn't want to disappoint his brother or get himself killed in the future. "Fine, but you're going to teach me some ninjutsu because of this," he demanded.

"Of course! We'll do that in the future, when you're about to become a Genin, I'll teach all that stuff. Now have a shower and go to bed, I still have work to do!" Kotero replied to his little brother. ' _This will give me time to learn some ninjutsu as well!'_  he thought.

After Naruto had a quick shower, he got into the same night outfit he wore yesterday and crawled into bed. ' _It seems the road to be a Hokage is a long, winding and tough path. It's the path of a hard life. But hard is the only way I know,_ ' Naruto then drifted off to a deep sleep.

* * *

**~ 0 ~**


	3. Dual Mission

"So, you're leaving tomorrow," Naruto said at the kitchen table, helping his older brother clear off the dinner.

"Yeah, Hokage-Jiji wants me at his office at nine o'clock. He's pairing me up with a seasoned Jōnin and we're forming a two-man cell. I know it won't be that bad but to be honest I'm a bit nervous!" Kotero said with his focus on cleaning the dishes in the sink.

"I have no idea why you're nervous, you're one of the strongest ninja in the village already dattebayo. And look at me now! I'm so much better than I was a couple weeks ago and that's because of your training!" Naruto said.

Naruto was right. In the four and bit weeks that Kotero has been teaching Naruto, Naruto's skills have improved massively. Naruto would admit that Kotero's training regime was brutal and extremely painful, but the results were spectacular. Naruto's already had impressive strength and speed for a boy his age who only ate ramen, but since adding doing lots of strenuous exercises, his strength and speed grew. His body started building a bit more muscle and his skin was glowing because of the more nutrient dense diet Kotero has been shovling down his throat.

He also has been practicing his shurikenjutsu every day. A few months ago, he would struggle to hit the target even once and now he can hit the targets every time. He still needed work as out of every ten or so shots, he would get only one bullseye.

Naruto's chakra control however was not progressing as well, both the Uzumaki brothers thought he wouldn't have this much difficulty with the leaf exercise. Naruto has gotten every leaf to stick on his fingers and one on his forehead. He also managed to progress far enough to start spinning the leaves in a clockwise motion. The speed was painfully slow compared to Kotero's.

Naruto tried spinning them counter-clockwise but it wouldn't work for him. Naruto got very down-spirited from this but this didn't last long. Kotero said that for all the skills he acquired, he spent countless hours, weeks, months and years to acquire them and Naruto was being too impatient and he was comparing himself too much to Kotero and his other classmates.

As to Naruto's earlier statement for not knowing hand seals, Kotero put it upon himself to drill everything he knew about hand seals and how they manipulated chakra to perform different jutsu into Naruto's brain. He showed Naruto every basic hand seal and made him perform them one after the other. He relentlessly corrected Naruto's hands form to make the seals as perfect as possible. He started testing Naruto by asking for different hand seals one after the other and to do it as quickly as possible. This however resulted in a lot of sore fingers for Naruto as he kept messing up. He improved steadily and surely, but as with everything else, it needed work.

Kotero saw Naruto's taijutsu style that he learnt from himself and the academy, he nearly vomited from the horrible form and the lack of flow and grace. It was very sloppy, almost as if Naruto was trying to be a underground street brawler. He had so many openings in his stance it was making Kotero cringe. He had to fix it, so he started teaching Naruto the Whirling Fist fighting style. It was easy for Naruto to transition from his dismal academy style to his clan's taijutsu style. There was nothing holding Naruto back.

Kotero, once again was brutal to Naruto when doing taijutsu training. Whenever the were sparred, he would hit Naruto hard when he was making mistakes, but these hits were beneficial, Kotero's punches, kicks and hands were guiding Naruto's body to make the stances. Kotero couldn't make full use of Uzuken as the dangerous style would snap Naruto like a twig if he could fight with nothing to hold him back.

In the academy, Naruto was much quieter in class, taking in all the lessons. He was still a very loud person, probably the loudest in the whole village. But ever since his big brother has come into his life, he has become much calmer and he now knows when to shut the hell up. This was only noticed by Shikamaru, Chōji, Hinata and Iruka. The two boys noticed it because the three have become very good friends. Hinata was noticing Naruto's changes as she often stared at him for unnecessarily long periods. Iruka couldn't help but not notice the sudden change, and he was wondering what the cause of it was.

However, he couldn't care less anyway, Naruto was quickly becoming one of his most favourite students to teach and this growth of maturity was a great thing for the teacher-student pair. The other students still see him as the loud-mouthed, orange wearing, ramen eating dead-last. Strangely enough, Naruto didn't care, he was keeping his improvements and new skills hidden and he only cared for the opinions of his two friends, the Hokage and his big brother.

Naruto wasn't the only one to improve himself over the month probation. Kotero had asked the Hokage if he could do any medical related work. The Hokage was overjoyed when he heard the offer as the hospital has complained for years of being understaffed. He was immediately put to work. He had to do a six hour shift every day, from nine to three o'clock. While Naruto was in the academy learning and Kotero would be healing. When Kotero arrived at the hospital for his first day, the Hokage was right in that there they were understaffed. To solve this problem Kotero made three shadow clones, one for each floor of the hospital.

He was pleased he took the job for another reason however. The volume of food Naruto and himself ate was quite large and expensive. He still had plenty of money that he earned over his travels but it was getting too small for his liking and the job helped pay out for their pigging. Especially for Naruto's ramen addiction.

"Thanks Naruto. Coming from you, it means a lot!" Kotero said with a heartfelt smile.

"I would be lying if I said anything else Nii-chan!" Naruto replied.

"Hm, if you say so. Say how's your calligraphy coming? Your handwriting has improved so much from the scribbles you used to do though that still wasn't perfect," Kotero asked.

"It's hard Nii-chan. I don't if I can do it ttebayo!" Naruto said with a crestfallen face.

Kotero just sighed and put his hand to his forehead. "If it was easy Naruto then everybody would be a seal-master. It's all about practice, practice and more practice. And then after blood, sweat and tears you master it! That's how all skills are required so stop being a bitch about it and just work on it. Nothing comes to you on a silver platter," he said with a small smile.

"I know! I just want to get stronger!" Naruto cried out, acting like a small child.

"I hope it's not for selfish reasons! I'll stop helping you if power is all you desire," Kotero said seriously.

Naruto knew he hit a nerve and he quickly put his hands up in a surrender position. " **NO!** I want to get stronger so I can become Hokage, to do our clan proud and to protect my friends and you ttebayo!" he shouted.

A smile crept on Kotero's face. ' _That's the answer I was looking for!_ ' he thought.

"Good! But Naruto, as your Nii-chan it's my job to protect you. Anyway, in a few years you'll be strong enough so we can mind each other's backs," Kotero told him before going back to cleaning.

Naruto was relieved that Kotero calmed down. He noticed through the month that whenever he mentioned how Sasuke was better than him, Kotero growled out and muttered something under his breath. He never questioned it at the times as he didn't want Kotero to add more exercises to the already brutal training regime but since he was leaving tomorrow and he won't be back for a few days, he thought now would be better than never. "Kotero-nii?" Naruto said.

"Yeah, what is it Naruto?" he replied with a raised eyebrow looking at Naruto, he was currently drying off the plates.

"I noticed in the past you get real mad whenever I mentioned Sasuke or his skills. I'm wondering why?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

Kotero put the plate away and put both his hands on the sink counter. Sighing deeply, he twirled around to face Naruto.

"I get annoyed because Jiji told me of his past. All he can think is of revenge now. It's depressing and it pisses me off. I won't lie and say I wouldn't get pissed off too, but I hate the fact he's so cold to everyone around him. He's pushing everyone and anyone who's trying to be his friend away. It's like he wants to be alone for the rest of his life," he said with a deadly tone. He then stared directly into Naruto's eyes, as if he was piercing his soul. "If you ever think like that. I will beat it out of  **YOU** **!** " Kotero said coldly.

' _But he did lose all his family... Maybe I shouldn't have such a harsh opinion on him, Naruto and I are similiar to Sasuke in that respect,'_  Kotero thought after his rant.

Naruto paled to a deathly white. He didn't need to be told twice that the threat was real. He gulped, "Don't worry. I don't think I'll be able to think like that dattebayo," he said with a shaky smile. The two Uzumaki stared for a few seconds, but for Naruto it felt like an eternity.

Kotero's deadly gaze vanished and his lips formed into a sweet smile. "Good! Now Naruto go upstairs and work on your calligraphy before going to bed. Go before I make you do a midnight workout," Kotero warned, as he went back to cleaning.

Naruto ran like hell and climbed the stairs, as if his life depended on it. He entered his room and went over to his desk. Pulling out the scroll he's been working on his handwriting for, he continued his work, doing exercises that were in the book. An hour went by, and a knock on his door came. Naruto walked to the door and opened it. "Nii-chan what is it? I'm working like you said ttebayo," Naruto said with a tired expression.

Kotero walked in and sat on Naruto's desk chair. "I have a few exercises I want you to be doing while I'm gone. You'll be taking a break from the training we've been doing. I only want you to really work on chakra control. Chakra control is the key to everything," Kotero said while putting a scroll on the desk.

Receiving a nod from Naruto, he got up and leaving the room. Stopping at the door, he looked at Naruto once more, "I'm going to bed now, I have a busy day tomorrow I have to prepare for," Kotero told his little brother.

Naruto mockingly saluted his brother with a huge grin as Kotero was leaving the room. When the door closed, Naruto went to get his night clothes, he changed into them after a quick shower. He then hopped into bed and went out like a light.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

"Do you know what you're learning today Naruto?" Kotero asked. He was walking slowly beside Naruto with his hands in his pockets.

"Ehh, yesterday we went over the second great ninja war. I think we're going to do the same thing dattebayo," Naruto answered.

"Hmm, they don't teach you enough in terms of skills but they can dish out history lessons as if they were sale. How do they expect you to survive outside the walls if they're teaching you only history?" Kotero asked rhetorically.

"I know ttebayo!" Naruto agreed fully.

"Huh, looks like we arrived," Kotero said in a bored tone. The two Uzumaki brothers were at the entrance to the academy complex. They saw the approaching crowd staring at them. Kotero then looked at Naruto. "Alright little man. I'm going to the mission office now. Don't mess up the house while I'm gone. You can bring Shikamaru and Chōji over if you get bored," Kotero told his little brother.

"Thanks Kotero-nii!" Naruto said, then he jumped into his big brother's arms and squeezed the life out of him. "Good luck on your mission!" he said as he went back to the ground.

"Thanks Naruto! I'll see you in a few days," Kotero said as he ruffled Naruto's hair and went off to the Hokage's office.

Naruto fixed his ruffled hair and went inside the academy. He walked through the corridors until he saw his classroom. He entered in and saw his two friends sitting in the front. As by routine he descended the stairs and took his usual seat by Shikamaru.

"Oi Naruto! We were wondering when you would finally come," Shikamaru said with a small smile. Chōji was as per usual munching on food.

Naruto yawned and wiped his eyes. "Sorry guys. Kotero-nii was going off for a mission and I wanted to say bye."

"Hey don't worry about. Do you know what type of mission it is?" Shikamaru asked, having an active interest in the Uzumaki brothers.

"No, he's only receiving the details today. All I know is what he told me yesterday. He's a member of a two man-cell team and his partner will be a seasoned Jōnin."

"Oh? That's interesting. From what I remember, Oyaji said he beat two Jōnin, one of them being an elite, this must be a high ranked mission," Shikamaru said only loud enough for his two friends to hear.

"Two Jōnin!? Damn Naruto your brother is strong, like really strong," Chōji gasped quietly.

Naruto just started to sway his head, "Believe me Chōji, I know how strong Kotero-nii is. I feel it every day!" Naruto said as he started rubbing his bruised ribs. "I never see him at full power though. He has to hold back so much when he's training me. I wouldn't be surprised if he could beat me into a bloody pulp in less than a second!" Naruto quietly cried out

The two others paled at this. "What is training like with Kotero Naruto?" Chōji asked, curious to know more about the redhead.

"He's ruthless, brutal and damn right scary. He did warn me a month ago that this will not be easy. That was a  **HUGE** understatement! He punishes me when I do half-form exercises and is always criticizing my actions when I do it wrong! When we spar, he beats me into our proper fighting stance. The whole training is painful. But I wouldn't have it any other way dattebayo!" Naruto said with a gleeful smile.

"You basically said he beats you up for making a mistake and you sound like you enjoy it! What the hell is wrong with you?" Shikamaru had to ask, forcing his voice down not to shout because of the surprise. For him, the whole training thing seemed too troublesome. Chōji was in the same line of thought, he was so concentrated on his thoughts that he was ignoring his potato crisps.

"I don't enjoy the pain dattebayo! But with this training, I've improved so much already and it's only been a month. I'm stronger, faster, more accurate, my taijutsu is improving. My chakra control is still bad but it was non-existent before ttebayo. Yeah so what if it's painful, it works for me and I'm improving," Naruto exclaimed.

"So, are you going to try go for rookie of the year?" Chōji asked, resuming to his munching.

"Nah, I'll leave that to duck-butt up there. Kotero-nii said deception is one of the greatest tools a ninja could have. I'm aiming for just the middle or even lower than that" Naruto replied. "Ah, we have fifteen minutes before class starts. I need to strain the dragon. See ya," Naruto said. He then walked up the stairs, leaving his two friends who wore disgusted faces.

As Naruto was walking up the stairs, Ino and Sakura speeded their way to try and sit beside Sasuke. Ino stopped suddenly and Sakura crashed into Naruto's shoulder. Naruto held his ground and Sakura recoiled off him. Naruto then continued his path towards the bathroom. Sakura got real mad and rushed towards Naruto. "Watch where you're going Naruto-baka!" she threw a punch at the back of Naruto's head.

Without needing to look behind, Naruto simply moved his head to the left and let Sakura's punch go through air. She fell from lack of balance and hit the floor. "It's not very nice to try and hit people when they aren't looking Sakura," Naruto said as he kept walking to the bathroom to do his business.

The students in the class were shocked to say the least of how Naruto handled the situation. Shikamaru turned his head to Chōji and a big grin appeared. "You know, I've waited for something like that to happen for a long time. And I'm glad that Naruto was the one to do it!" he said before laughing softly with Chōji.

Naruto was taking his leak, thinking over what just happened. ' _She bumped into me and she says for me to watch out. How rude! Looks like we're going to have sushi when Kotero-nii comes back. Mystic bastard, how did he know without even meeting her!'_ Naruto mused. He flushed the urinal, washed his hands and headed back to the classroom. The angry scowl from Sakura was not unnoticed by Naruto as he retook his place.

"Hey guys, Kotero-nii said I can invite you guys over to our house after school. You want to come?" Naruto asked his two friends.

"Sorry Naruto, I can't. My dad wants me to help him today," Chōji said rather glumly.

"I'll come over, Oyaji doesn't need the deer herded today so I have loads of free time," Shikamaru said with his usual bored expression.

At that moment Iruka and Mizuki entered the classroom. "Good morning class!" they both said to their class.

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei," the class spoke in mixed voices.

Naruto got comfortable in his seat. ' _Today is going to be a long day!'_  he thought as the lesson began.

* * *

**Hokage Tower**

Kotero walked into the mission administrations room. It was an open room with a long desk at the end, there was a balcony with a wooden rail. There was a Chūnin assistant helping the Hokage distribute missions and some papers. Kotero made himself known. "Good morning Hokage-sama!" he said out loud.

Hiruzen lifted his head up, when he saw his favourite redhead, he smiled and motioned Kotero to come closer. "Great to see you Kotero! The mission I have for you is in my office. I'll be there in five minutes. Go on ahead and wait for me," the old man said in his grandfatherly voice. Kotero nodded and left for his office. It was a very short walk to reach the office doors.

When he arrived, he saw a man in a standard Jōnin outfit with a sash on his waist with the kanji of 'Fire' on it. The man had a cigarette hanging off his lip. He had a thick beard with no moustache and his black hair was long on top. The man in front of him reminded him of the Hokage. ' _I bet it's his son,'_  he thought.

"Excuse me but are you Sarutobi Asuma?" Kotero asked politely.

The man focused his gaze on Kotero. When he saw Kotero's red hair, his face softened. "Yeah I am. You must be Uzumaki Kotero. I heard from Kakashi that you beat him," Asuma said as he put his hand out for it to be shaken. "Don't think your rematch will go the same way."

Kotero smiled at his correct assumption and shakes Asuma's hand. "Ha! I don't. I'm glad he isn't sore about the loss. I heard from your dad that you're an extremely skilled ninja, and a fellow wind-user!" Kotero gleefully said.

Asuma was surprised from what Kotero said. A wind user was rare, even in Suna and the wind country, even rarer outside. But the compliment from his father was the biggest shock. The father and son pair haven't seen eye to eye as of late. To hear that his father, the Hokage, thought he was an extremely skilled ninja was nice to hear. Even with their arguments, they were still family.

"A wind user? Tou-san didn't say you were one," Asuma said, holding back the surprise in his voice.

"I haven't learnt any jutsu because my Kaa-chan was a water elemental user and I didn't have any jutsu scrolls to learn from. I can channel chakra to my weapons and that's as much I can do!" Kotero told Asuma.

"Still, Kotero that's a high level skill. You have to be talented to do it so young and have no-one to teach it to you," Asuma pointed out.

"You can say I'm talented but I would disagree, I put a ton of work into manipulating elemental chakra. It was just time and practice, that's all," Kotero explained while putting his hands behind his head.

Asuma's opinion of the redhead was growing and growing. He was obviously smart and strong, but he was humble and confident in his skills. ' _Tou-san was right, I am going to like him!'_  Asuma thought.

They chatted for another two minutes until the Hokage arrived. He entered his office and the two ninja followed him in. The Hokage sat in his office chair and took out two scrolls. "This will be a double B-ranked mission for the both of you. The first mission includes the delivery of Konoha's finance reports and other money related issues to the capital. The economy is slowing down and we could hit a small recession. If the other villages find out, it will be detrimental to all of Konoha, so that's why it's a B-rank.

The second B-ranked mission is to clear out a small bandit camp that has caused disturbances southwest of the capital. Usually this would be a high C-rank mission but the apparent leaders are missing nin from Iwa. They are brothers that specialize in earth ninjutsu and are very dangerous. Both are B-ranked by themselves but together they are an A-level threat! I have my trust in you two that these will be successful missions," Hiruzen said. He was very serious of the circumstances.

"Of course Hokage-sama," both said in unison. Asuma turned to Kotero and asked "You have everything you need?" he asked.

Kotero patted his dark grey Chūnin flak-jacket and felt for his swords. His hands glided down to feel pouches. He looked in into the right pouch, took out a scroll with a green top on it. It was his medical supply scroll. He packed it back in and looked at Asuma "I have everything," Kotero answered with a nod.

Asuma smiled. "Well let's get going then!" Asuma said as he went over to his dad to get the Konoha finance report. "Thanks, Tou-san, see ya later," he said with a happy face, in his mind he decided to mend the strained relationship between him and his father.

Hiruzen was a bit spooked by this, he wasn't called Tou-san since Asuma left to become a ninja guardian. He smiled, "Good luck Asuma!" he said.

Asuma and Kotero walked out of the office and went to the gates. They both signed out and began their journey to the fire country's capital. Kotero has only been there twice and both times he felt like he was suffocating. There were many people living there, many merchants and buyers doing their trade and gangs roaming the different sections of the city. It was not the nicest place according to Kotero's experience.

"Asuma?" Kotero said once they were just outside the Village gates and walls.

"Hm, something wrong?" Asuma asked, he didn't know why they stopped just before they were going to begin their long sprint North.

"Well, it's just that scroll is really important, I was thinking we can seal it and use a blood seal so it would only react to our chakra," Kotero said looking at the Jōnin.

Asuma took a second to think about it. He then tossed the scroll to Kotero and nodded. "Tou-san said you were a seal-master. I would like to watch you work!" he said.

"Alright but it'll just look like a bunch of scribbles to you," Kotero chuckled out.

"What is a seal-master Kotero?" Asuma asked, he really didn't know what the title stood for.

Kotero looked at Asuma for two seconds before answering,"It's a hard question to answer. There's no test or anything to show you are one. I think the term came from just seasoned sealers that taught people how to seal. You know, some students refer to their teachers as master, so that's where I think it came from. If I had to really say what a seal-master is, I would have to say that the sealer has to be experienced and skilled enough in the basic three basic types of seals. Offensive, defensive and supplementary seals.

Offensive of course has to do with attacking seals such as exploding tags and element canon tags. Element canon tags are very diffucult to create, but they are very handy. A big fat fireball could launch out of one and burn your enemies. There are other types of offensive seals, but that would get us into the nitty gritty.

Defensive seals all have to do with barriers or shields and so on and so forth. Supplementry seals is the term used for non-combative seals or seals used to make life easier essentially. This could range from lock seals which are used to lock houses. Security seals to protect walls and windows. Fountain seals to release stored up water for your garden. The storage seal is the parent seal to the fountain seal, but the fountain seal can release a certain amount of water at a set time.

There are other types of seals, but I don't want to bore you. I would say you can call yourself a seal-master if you are proficient in those three areas of sealing and you have the basics down to perfection," Kotero explained with some hand gestures.

Asuma was stunned from the information dump and just nodded. He needed to process the vast amount of information given to him.

Kotero took out a small scroll, an ink brush and a jar of black ink. Kotero then crouched to the ground. He poured some of the ink in a saucer that was beside the jar and he then sliced his finger and let some of the blood drop into the ink. He quickly healed his finger with the  **Mystic Palm technique** , the cut stitched itself back together and disappeared, as if nothing has happened to it at all.

"Asuma, I'll need some of your blood to mix into the ink," Kotero said while looking up to the bearded Sarutobi. Asuma without hesitation made a cut on his index finger and let the blood drops go into the saucer. Kotero shifted to the bleeding hand, quickly wiped the blood off with one hand and healed the cut with the other. Asuma was very impressed.

"You have great healing skills!" Asuma complimented

"Thanks, but I still have lots to learn!" Kotero replied with a smile.

Kotero then mixed the ink and blood into one mixture. It was a very dull red. Kotero then begin to draw the intricate seal arrays to would make a storage blood seal. He finished the seal in a flash and left it to dry. After five seconds, he placed the finance report scroll on the seal and pulsed some of his chakra to it. The finance report scroll was sealed, so he closed the storage scroll and handed it to Asuma.

Asuma's expression was of shock. Kotero was so clean and quick when making the seal. His father had some knowledge of fuinjutsu and he was told blood seals were harder to create and make than regular seals. Getting over his shock, he thanked Kotero and the two ninja flew off into the forest.

Their plan was to run all the way to the capital, have a good night's rest. Visit the Fire Daimyō in their scheduled meeting the next morning. Gather information on where the bandit camp is located from the city dwellers, find the camp and finally destroy the camp and neutralise the targets. Then return to Konoha and report for mission success.

Asuma and Kotero only chatted briefly from time to time, mainly to check if the other was doing alright. They traversed most of the fire country, running and jumping through most of the forests and grassy plains that are found there. They didn't take one break and finally after six hours of high speed travel, they made it to the outskirts of the Capital. They avoided the infamous forest that claimed many lives, the forest known as the Jagged Wild Forest.

Asuma and Kotero slowed down and then walked. After half an hour of going through the growing crowds, the duo made it to the centre of the Western District. They both looked up at the clock tower and saw it was only half three in the afternoon.

"So, what do we do now? We don't need to see the Daimyō until tomorrow morning," Kotero asked Asuma, as Asuma was the leader of the mission.

Asuma took his eyes off the clock and then patted Kotero's shoulder. "We'll book a room for ourselves and then we'll go to a bar for a meal. It'll be my treat!" he offered with a smile.

"Ah Asuma, you don't have to," Kotero quickly replied.

Asuma frowned at this, "It's not an option, consider it captain's orders! And if you still feel guilty, you can tell how you kicked Kakashi's ass as payment. Fair?" Asuma said as he pulled on Kotero's shoulder, motioning him to follow. Kotero sighed deeply and followed Asuma after he went off.

The two went to a hotel that was situated close to the palace where the fire Daimyō resided. It was in the Western District of the Capital. One of four equally sized districts that make up the mighty city.

They booked a simple room with separate beds. The room was lacking in the luxury department, but the price was outrageous. ' _Another reason why I hate the capital, everything is so damn expensive! What do you expect when it's the richest of the four Districts though,_ ' Kotero thought as he and Asuma went up the stairs to their room.

They entered their hotel room and they weren't surprised from the lack of furniture. Two single beds, one beside their own wall. There was a small wooden nightstand beside each bed with a lamp on them. A small window just to let some sunlight in. There were no chairs or tables as the room was quite small, some would say snug. After Asuma left his bag in the room, the duo went off to find a bar.

They didn't need to look far, five minutes into their search, they find a lively bar, brimmed with people. Asuma and Kotero went inside. Kotero goes in search for a booth for the two. Luckily, he finds one in the nick of time, he quickly claims it to ward off potential booth snatchers. Asuma comes back with a bottle of Sake and two saucers.

"I ordered some barbequed meat for us to eat. Hope you don't mind," Asuma said as his sat down across Kotero. He poured the alcohol into the saucers and gives the first one to Kotero. Receiving a nod of thanks from Kotero, he then pours his own saucer.

Kotero scoops up his saucer and downs the sake in one shot. "Ahhhhh, I love that feeling when it goes down your throat. Nothing like it! That's good stuff, where's it from? The land of Rice?" Kotero asked as he proceeded to pour another saucer.

"No, it's a vintage bottle from the Land of Honey, it was going for half-price here, so I had to buy it!" Asuma replied as he put down his empty saucer.

"Really, wow!" Kotero quietly said, knowing a bit too much about the acholic beverage and knowing it wasn't the Land of Honey's speciality.

"Now, I believe that you owe me the story of how you beat Kakashi," Asuma asked with curiosity dripping off his voice. Kakashi was one of the strongest in the village. Asuma knew that Kotero wasn't lucky in his fight, Kakashi was too good to be beaten just by being lucky.

"Well, I was with your dad and we were talking about the first great ninja war and other stuff and Kakashi was two hours late. Which didn't surprise your dad in the least so I didn't complain about it," Kotero said with moving his hands around with his talking.

"Yeah typical Kakashi, you should expect that in the future if you ever get for him for a mission!" Asuma laughed out.

Kotero raised his left eyebrow at this. "Anyway, the fight began and it was intense from the get go, and then…"

* * *

**Konoha**

"Your house is huge!" Shikamaru gasped as he saw the front of the house.

"I know, I'm so grateful I'm living here rather than my old apartment. The main bathroom is like the same size as my old place. Probably bigger," Naruto told Shikamaru as both approached the front door.

Naruto pulsed his chakra through a strange-looking door handle. It was a silver handle with a wave ripple effect. A 'CLICK' was heard and Naruto opened the door. Naruto walked inside and noticed that his friend wasn't with him. He turned around and saw Shikamaru inspecting the door handle.

"Shika, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, what did you do?" Shikamaru asked, he never took his eyes off the handle.

"Ah yeah, I never told you. Kotero-nii put seals on the door. It only works with some of our chakra flowed into it to unlock the door. It's to stop people robbing us," Naruto answered.

"Aren't you worried? What if some random person somehow used your or his chakra," Shikamaru asked.

"Don't worry, Kotero-nii put an active-awareness seal or something on it. It'll know if it's us or not. So, come on get inside," Naruto cried out.

Shikamaru complied and closed the door, entering the house. He saw the joint living-dining area and the kitchen in the back. ' _This place is massive,_ ' was all Shikamaru thought as he followed Naruto to the kitchen.

Naruto started the kettle and took out the tea set. Over the course of the month, Kotero made Naruto black tea every day, Naruto has taken a liken to the dark bitter liquid so he was going to make himself some. "Shika, you want some tea?" he asked.

"Yeah that'd be nice. Do you guys have a shogi board, it'll be good to play with you Naruto," Shikamaru asked his blonde friend, he only played his dad and he always lost. He wanted to introduce Naruto to it so he could at least win some of the games he played.

As Naruto finished making the tea, he went over to the coffee table and set the tray down. "I think Nii-chan said he had one in his study. Let's go up and see if we can find it," Naruto said excitedly, not really knowing what shogi really was but he was bored and he wanted to play the game with his friend.

The boys walked up the stairs and stopped on the second door on the left, Kotero's study. This was beside his bedroom, at the end of the corridor. Naruto opened the door and entered inside, Shikamaru trailing behind him.

What Shikamaru saw was a lot of books and scrolls, a whole damn library filled with them. There were shelves packed with books on all sorts of material. The nature of chakra, history of clans and the shinobi world, weapons theory and medical ninjutsu and much more. He looked to his left and saw a large wooden desk, ink brushes and many jars were on it beside a large open scroll with many strange markings and notes written in beautiful handwriting. He looked above the desk and saw a huge map of the Elemental nations, the minor countries and their main cities and towns. Even though this room was filled with stuff, it was very organised and neat.

Shikamaru looked at the scroll on the desk again, not understanding one bit of it. "Naruto, what's this?" he asked while pointing at the scroll. Naruto turned around with a large wooden box in his hands and walked over to Shikamaru.

"Oh, that's Kotero-nii's project, he's making a seal to do something with medical chakra. I don't get it at all ttebayo!" he said, not arrogant to not admit he doesn't know much about it.

Shikamaru was in the same boat as Naruto, he had no idea what any of it meant. "I'll ask Oyaji about seals and medical chakra when I get home. It seems interesting," Shikamaru said as he was looking at more of Kotero's work.

"This it Shikamaru?" Naruto asked holding the lovely wooden box.

Shikamaru just glanced at it and immediately knew it was a shogi box. "Yeah come on, I'll teach you some before we play a game," he said with a small grin.

The two boys went downstairs and set up the board. Shikamaru taught Naruto the rules quickly, not getting into advanced strategies. They drank their slightly cooled tea and played the game. Shikamaru had to play very casually as Naruto was a beginner and had yet to grasp all there is to Shogi. It was an hour until Shikamaru had enough. Shikamaru moved one piece, "checkmate," he said with a sly grin.

Naruto looked at the board, staring intensely for any possible. He huffed and puffed, "Ah! I was so bad dattebayo!" he yelled out as he ran off to the kitchen to get an anger snack. Shikamaru just laughed at his blonde friend and walked over with the two tea mugs and tray.

"You'll get better, when my Oyaji finds out Kotero has a shogi board, he's going to force him and you to come to my house so they can play. It's all too troublesome," Shikamaru droned out in his usual bored tone.

"You think so?" Naruto asked, he was never invited to anyone's house. He was wondering if they wouldn't invite him or Kotero because of the village's hatred for him.

"Definitely. He's going to find your brother as soon he comes back from his mission, I'm sure of it. Any way I should go home. Kaa-san will kill me, I'm already late!" he said with a hint of fright in his voice.

Naruto and Shikamaru went to the door and Naruto sent him off, saying they'll see each other at the academy. Shikamaru walked all the way home. ' _Crap, it's already night. I'm going to get murdered,_ ' he thought. He finally saw the Nara compound, walked to the front door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. "I'm home," Shikamaru said, hoping he won't get pounded by a wooden spoon.

"Why are you home so late Shika?" Shikaku said gruffly, he was sitting on the floor behind a table.

"Naruto invited me to his house and I introduced him to Shogi," Shikamaru said as he sat across from his father.

A small grin appeared on the elder Nara's face. "Oh? And, how was he?" he asked.

"He was absolutely awful, but he never played before so it was his first time. It was fun though," Shikamaru answered.

"Did Naruto say Kotero played?" Shikaku asked with some vigour in his voice.

' _I knew it. Now he wants to play Naruto's brother. Jeez this is annoying,'_  Shikamaru thought.

"He didn't say he did. But with the board in his house, I'd say he knows how to play. And I wouldn't underestimate him. He was working on this medical chakra seal thing and it looked crazy weird," Shikamaru yawned out, he was tired of his fun day with Naruto.

Shikaku's eyebrows raised and his little grin grew a little bigger. "Hm, I want to play him now. Was he there?" he further asked.

"No, Naruto said he went on a mission and he won't be back for a few days supposedly," Shikamaru yawned out.

Shikaku pouted at this. He was the best shogi player in the village and the only real competition was his own son. He wanted a new shogi partner, to talk more about the village and other countries politics and share some of his sake with.

"I guess I have to wait then," he said sadly as he left the room, just when his wife entered the room and began to beat his son to a bloody pulp with a wooden spoon for being late. ' _Thank God I'm not him,'_  he chuckled to himself.

* * *

**The Capital of The Land of Fire, Western District**

"So, he lied about training harder then. Huh, I was sure he had eyes of a determined man," Kotero said eating another piece of barbequed pork. "Shit I mean eye! I forgot about his mask."

"Well, that's not completely true, I think he trained hard for a week and then quit when the next issue of Icha-Icha came out. He'll avoid anything just to read it," Asuma said with a laugh.

"Oh don't even talk to me about that! I know those books quite well. I don't like that smut, but my late Kaa-chan was such a pervert. It was so embarrassing!" Kotero cried out quietly with his hands covering his face.

When Asuma heard this, he laughed so hard that he was slipping from his seat. He calmed down and poured another saucer of sake for the two of them and ate another piece of meat. Kotero took the saucer and downed it quickly. Sighing a breath of relief, he looked at the meal in front of him and ate more of the delicious meat.

"How long have we've been here?" Kotero asked, having lost track of time.

Asuma looked for a clock around the bar, it was hidden well. Then he saw it near the bar stand. "Eh, we came here at five, now it's eight. So, three hours," he said in a dazed stare, the alcohol was finally taking in effect.

"Cool, just wanted to know!" Kotero said in his normal form. Asuma was confused on what was happening, Kotero drank more than him and he wasn't drunk yet, and they drank quite a bit.

"Kotero, how're you not drunk yet?" Asuma asked.

"Asuma, don't worry! I'm tipsy right now. We Uzumaki need a lot of strong alcohol to get drunk. Sometimes I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse," Kotero said with a cheeky smile. "But I better cool it. Last time I drank, it didn't end well at all. Got sick everywhere."

Asuma laughed. He then suddenly quieted down. "Really? Anyway, I would call it a blessing in our line of work... There's some woman who keeps staring at your hair," Asuma said with squinted eyes.

Kotero turned his head around to see a woman with long white hair sitting on one of the bar stools. She gave him a wink and a smile before leaving.

"What a strange woman," Kotero said. "Is she a friend of yours Asuma?" Kotero asked.

Asuma shook his head. "No, never met her in a day in my life. Those eyes reminded me of your little brother's. Blue, but hers were darker. Hm... It's always the strange ones that are beautiful, isn't it? At least they make life interesting," he said.

Kotero laughed lightly. "I'd have to agree. Kaa-chan was beautiful, but if you knew what she was like, you would think she was crazy in the head. Ah, but that just makes me love her more though."

They both kept drinking and eating, chatting about everything and anything. They were acting as if they knew each other for years and both were having a great time. It was midnight and both men knew it was time for sleep. They quickly paid for their meal and helped each other back to their hotel room. They didn't bother taking off their shinobi gear as they both fell on their separate beds and blacked out. It was a good night. A very good night.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

"Oi Asuma, wake the fuck up, we have that meeting in an hour!" said an irritated Kotero. Asuma cracked open an eye to see a small scowl on Kotero, he knew he wasn't going to get a nice rest in the morning.

"What the fuck Kotero? Let me sleep," he hissed out, Asuma was now a very grumpy Sarutobi.

"Nah sorry can't do that mate. You need to scrub up for the Daimyō. No way in hell I'm going in there carrying your drunk ass!" Kotero yelled out. Kotero rubbed his temples as his headache that Asuma was giving him was making him cranky. "The shower is free, you smell awful. And here, take this pill, it should help with your hangover you pansy!" Kotero said as he handed over a pill and a glass of water. He then went out of the room leaving Asuma to clean himself up.

He went down to the hotel to get breakfast for him and Asuma, he ordered two hotel special breakfasts. After five minutes, Asuma came down looking fresher than the state he was in before and sat across Kotero. A few seconds later, their meals arrived and they dug in. Their breakfast wasn't anything amazing, it was a simple rice bowl, a small soup, some grilled fish and a bowl of fruit. Nothing special at all.

The two left and went over to the Daimyō's Palace. As they walked through the filled crowds, they noticed a lot of commotion going on in one of the streets. They both rushed over to see a crowd of men.

"Let's leave them, the city guards will handle them. We can't miss the meeting!" Asuma said, he saw Kotero was a bit hesitant to go so he patted him on the shoulder.

Kotero was a bit spooked by the shoulder grab, he was concentrating on the brawl and was just wondering what was going on. He nodded his head and the ninja pair headed towards the palace.

"I'm not a fan of the winter months. This place should be blooming with flowers," Kotero said with a hint of sadness. "The flowers and plants are probably one of my favourite things in the Capital."

Asuma chuckled. "It's November, what do you expect? There's no way any of the gardens would have those colourul summer flowers growing. Kotero, let's focus on the mission on hand," he said.

They arrived at the large palace complex that was owned by the Fire country's leader. Two royal samurai who were on guard duty noticed the ninja. "We've been expecting you guys. The meeting will be starting soon so please get to the council chambers," The guards hastily said.

The Konoha duo didn't need to be told twice and they entered the palace with haste. Another guard came and lead them to the chamber doors. He then left Asuma and Kotero to do their own business.

"I don't think I need to tell you but be on your best behaviour, this guy is a big part of our economy and we don't need anything screwing it up!" Asuma said sternly.

Kotero just nodded and decided that Asuma would do the talking. The doors suddenly opened and some nobles left the room in a hurry, looking rather steamed. ' _Wonder what that was about?_ ' both Asuma and Kotero thought. They then entered the room and saw the Daimyō and his officials behind their desks. Some of them, especially the Daimyō looked cross.

When the Daimyō saw the ninja enter, his face softened. Asuma used to be one of his ninja guardians so they knew each other well. And he came with a strong looking ninja with red hair. "Asuma-kun, it's great to see you again. I'm glad you're delivering the package today. And who's your partner here?" the Daimyō said formally and politely.

Asuma did a bow and stepped forward. "It's a pleasure as always Daimyō-sama. This is Chūnin Uzumaki Kotero, he's our up and coming ninja, I wouldn't be surprised if he became Jōnin the next time you two meet," Asuma said in his most formal tone, no cigarette to mess up his voice.

The Daimyō smiled at this and looked at Kotero. "It's nice to meet you, I see you must be skilled in swordsmanship with the two blades you have on your back!" he said with glee.

Kotero then stepped forward and did his own bow. "It's a true pleasure to make your acquittance Daimyō-sama. I thank you for your kind words, but I still have much to improve on in my kenjutsu," He told him.

The Daimyō was enjoying the conversation, the ninja of Konoha always gave his day a breath of fresh air. Then he remembered they were here for a special reason. "I take it you have Konoha's extensive finance report," he said in a neutral tone.

Asuma gave Kotero the storage scroll, and Kotero proceeded to bite his finger and spread blood across the seal. The finance report appeared in a puff of smoke and Asuma promptly grabbed it and gave it to the Daimyō's assistant.

The Konoha duo were about to say their departures, but the Daimyō raise his hand to stop them The leader of the country had other ideas. "Kotero-kun, I have a favour to ask of you," The Daimyō said.

"What is it you need Daimyō-sama?" Kotero asked, feeling his heartbeat increase slightly.

"Well, I am quite bored right now and I would love for you to have a spar with on of my top samurai, would you please accept this old man's request?" he asked in a sweet voice.

Kotero was shocked when he heard this, but didn't let it show. He really, really didn't want to have a spar now. "That decision will be up to my commanding officer, Asuma. You'll have to ask him Daimyō-sama," Kotero said. ' _Please save me Asuma!_ ' he was thinking repeatedly in his mind.

"Kotero have the spar, it's no problem," Asuma said with an evil smile.

' _Goddamnit Asuma_ _! I'm going to get you someday,'_ Kotero angrily yelled internally _._ "I'll be happy to oblige," he said with a shaky smile.

The Daimyō and his guards, Kotero and Asuma left the chambers and then entered the courtyard. Everyone apart from Kotero stood on the pavement while Kotero continued onto the dirt. A samurai in red armour appeared from the crowd and took his place across from Kotero. He then unsheathed his sword and took his stance. "It will be a pleasure to spar with you Uzumaki-san," the Samurai said.

Kotero unsheathed Rubí and took his clan's styles stance. "You as well Samurai-san, let's make this a good fight," Kotero said loudly as he stared down the armoured man.

Kotero rushed into the samurai's defence with blinding speed and swung his sword to slash the Samurai's arm. This was blocked easily by the red-armoured swordsman. ' _It isn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be!_ ' he thought.

The Samurai then swung his sword to take Kotero's head off. Thanks to Kotero's speed, he ducked his head, and rolled to the right. As he was rising back up from the ground. He twirled on his left foot and slashed his sword towards the Samurai in a long arc. The Samurai had to block quickly or he would have a fatal wound. He stepped back and parried the incoming blade. Kotero was impressed with the reaction time, now he wanted to see how fast this Samurai really was. He retook his stance after he stepped a few metres from the Samurai and waited for the swordsman to make his move. His amethyst eyes staring intently at his opponent.

The Samurai grew impatient and initiated the attack. He swung his sword in a diagonal slash, Kotero easily dodged it and waited for his next attack, his sword ready if he can't dodge the incoming strikes. The Samurai swung his sword again, Kotero dodged the swing. The Samurai began to get irritated and he started to swing his sword faster and faster, making a bunch of silver blurs coming out of front of him. And even though he kept increasing his speed and the amount of sword swings he would make, he couldn't land one hit on Kotero.

Kotero was enjoying his morning workout a little too much and now he wanted to nib it in the bud. He and Asuma still had a mission to do. He suddenly blocked the Samurai's incoming swing with his sword and then proceeded to kick the samurai in the chest, making the samurai skid back a couple of metres. He then unsheathed Safaia, and closed the distance between him and the Samurai in a flash. He then sliced and diced the Samurai and ended up on the other side, across from the Samurai's back. He then immediately sheathed his swords and walked over to the crowd.

The Samurai's armour was completely taken apart and his clothes were ripping, small cuts appearing all over his body. He then collapsed onto the ground. Servants then took him on a stretcher and brought the poor unconscious man to the medical room. The other samurai guards and the Daimyō were shocked to the core, completely in awe of the skills of the redhead. Asuma was just like the rest. His Jōnin eyes allowed him to see the speed Kotero travelled at when he did his finishing move, even then all he was just a blur.

' _Tou-san said he was fast but this guy is like a red flash, he could compete with Gai with speed!_ ' Asuma thought.

The Samurai captain stood beside the Daimyō, his own eyes were widened. "How could a shinobi beat a samurai in a swordfight?" he murmured under his breath. "So, it's true. The Uzumaki were true swordsmen, ones to be feared across the world.

"Amazing skills Kotero-kun. I see that Asuma-kun wasn't exaggerating one bit!" the Daimyō said happily, he liked seeing skill and flair and this kid got it in buckets.

"Thank you Daimyō-sama, and don't worry about your samurai, the cuts aren't fatal and he should be back to normal after a night's rest, I hope!" Kotero said.

"Thank you for not maiming or killing him. I can see that if you wanted to, you could of easily. Now I believe you two have a second mission that I asked for to be taken care of. Please solve those pesky bandits, their causing disturbances to the city. And to help you out, one of my scouts told me they were close to Yakoi River. I would search there if I was you," The Daimyō said in his regal voice.

"Thank you Daimyō-sama," Asuma and Kotero said in unison.

The two ninjas then left the Daimyō's palace in companionable silence. Asuma then broke the silence as he had to talk about the fight. "You were so fast there, you were like a blur. How'd you get like that?" Asuma asked.

"Chakra weights and sprinting everywhere, now I'm using resistance weight seals," Kotero answered with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Why am I not surprised you're using seals to train. That's a genius idea!" Asuma said.

"The weights were getting impractical as if I went any heavier on them, I would sink into the ground so the seals make my body work harder, making it stronger and not affect the environment," Kotero explained.

"How heavy did you go before using seals?" Asuma asked.

"Honestly can't remember, it was impossible to do anything because I would have to constantly use chakra to react to the force I was exerting to the ground, and it wasn't even a good chakra control exercise there so I just sealed up the weights and started using seals," Kotero answered while looking at the Jōnin.

"Say after the mission, would you give me a lend the weights for training, just looking at you makes me want to improve!" Asuma asked.

"I don't know. Maybe!" Kotero said with a cheeky grin.

"Why do you think I can't handle it?" Asuma questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"No! Of course not. Asuma those old chakra weights I used won't make you any faster or stronger," Kotero explained. "We would need to get a new set to do that."

"Fair enough," Asuma said as he puffed out some smoke from his newly lit cigerette.

The two made it back to the hotel. They went to heir room to pick up Asuma's stuff that he dropped off last night. Kotero waited by the door, waiting for Asuma to finish checking over his supplies. He was satisfied that he had everything he needed. He strapped the bag to himself and walked out of the room. Kotero followed until Asuma suddenly stopped when they left the Hotel. Asuma turned around to Kotero and looked at him. "All the information we have on our two targets is that they were sighted by Yakoi river. Do you have any ideas on where to find them?" Asuma asked Kotero.

Kotero thought for a second before snapping his fingers. "We'll just go into the forest, follow the river, find any clues if they're nearby and I'll using my sensing abilities to try and find them. The two brothers should have larger chakra pools than the other bandits and their signatures will have a similar feel to each other. What do you think?" Kotero asked his superior.

Asuma just nodded, "Doesn't matter, that's the best plan for now. We can always adapt to the situation when shit hits the fan. Now let's move out!" Asuma ordered out. The Konoha duo went out of the city, through the south exit, they entered the forest heading south west. They travelled for a good hour until they saw a large river flow by. "This must be the river the Daimyō was talking about. Let's look for any clues," Asuma said as he slowed down to a stop, just before the bank of the river.

They split up and looked all around them. Kotero jumped to the branches to get a better vantage point, he could always investigate better when looking in a near bird-eyes view. He saw nothing that would suggest that there was a group of bandits going through the area. A mile down the bank from where he split up from Asuma, he saw something shine on the other side of the river. Jumping off the tree, he landed silently on the grass and looked at the shine from the far side. The shine was coming off water droplets that were reflecting the sun. He looked into the clear waters of the slow meander river and saw divots of footprints in the residue and soil.

' _Must be from the bandits, they can't water walk,'_ Kotero deduced from what he saw in from of him.

Kotero jumped across the river to look at the other side of the bank, to get a closer look at the water droplets. He landed and walked over to the patch of wet grass. He crouched and peered at the ground. ' _Considering the water is still visible and hasn't evaporated yet, and the divots in the river, they should be close, probably an hours walk,'_  he thought.

Kotero stood up and went back to where he split from Asuma. He didn't need to travel far as Asuma was waiting for him. "I think I found them," Kotero said as he landed beside Asuma.

"Really, we should go and investigate it. There was nothing on my end of any human activity or anything around these parts, just animals," Asuma exclaimed.

Kotero nodded and lead Asuma to the patch of grass where he saw the divots and water droplets. "We should move in this line," Kotero moved his arm to the path straight through the wet grass, "and we should see them in less than half an hour. The water droplets are bunched together, so that suggests that they were walking," Kotero said, showing off his detective skills to Asuma.

"Good work Kotero. This is most likely going to turn into a messy battle. Are you prepared?" Asuma asked his young friend.

"I'm ready, don't you worry. But actually, I have a plan that will make both our lives much easier. All I need you to do is to support me when I call for you. Can you promise me that?" Kotero asked.

Asuma would normally say 'Hell no!' to something like that but since he watched Kotero's fight with the samurai that morning, he now knows first-hand the capabilities of the young ninja. He was going to take a bet. "Fine, but if something fucks up I'm jumping in whether you like it or not!" Asuma said with some steel in his voice.

Kotero nodded at this and led the two-man team. They didn't have to travel far as Kotero picked up chakra signatures of fifteen men. Two of them being Jōnin level. "I've found them" he said quietly while putting his hand up to stop Asuma's movement. "Asuma, there are fifteen of them. Two have chakra pools of what a Jōnin would have, I assume they are the Iwa brothers. I sense their chakras are further away than from the rest of the bandit camp. This will make it easier for me," Kotero stated out quietly.

Asuma just nodded his head and asked, "What do you want me to do?" knowing he has some part to play in Kotero's plan.

Kotero stood there silently, thinking over the steps needed to do the job as efficiently as possible, "I'm going into the treetops, you'll follow me until you see the camp. I need you to set these tags (Kotero handed Asuma strange looking exploding tags) around the camp. These are tags that'll explode with substances that distort eyesight and send poisonous fumes in the air. They'll die in thirty minutes if they don't get an antidote. It will also blow away their camp. Once you have them set up, you will head towards me. I'll wait until I can sense your chakra and then I'll just need you to support me when I signal you with your name!" Kotero said as he laid out his plans in words.

Asuma just nodded, agreeing with the plan. Kotero then jumped into the treetops and headed off to the two rouge Iwa nin. He made a shadow clone far enough from them just in case they sensed the spike in chakra. He was moving stealthy and silently, getting closer and closer to his targets. He was thankful the bandit camp was situated in a deep forest, it provided great cover for him. Finally, he saw the two brothers relaxing, sitting on a large boulder talking about prostitutes and getting some drugs for a "fun night!"

Kotero was waiting for his partner in crime. He looked over the surroundings and couldn't believe the two Iwa nin were just relaxing here, ' _They must of set traps nearby and are confident in their skills. And staying further away from the camp either means that they needed to discuss something important or they think that are better than the non-ninja bandits!_ ' Kotero thought.

He sensed Asuma's chakra signature approaching. Kotero then silently moved his position so he was above the two brothers. They still haven't noticed the redhead above them. He had his shadow clone ready with some kunai away from him, in case he needs a distraction to escape.

Kotero jumped toward the brother sitting on the boulder to the left, using chakra to enhance his speed for his descent. The rouge nin didn't react fast enough as Kotero used his hidden blade and stabbed it through his targets neck and throat. He quickly pulls it out and ejects the blade from its mechanism by pulling a pin holding the blade to his wrist bracer. With his ejected hidden blade in hand, he swiftly flicked it towards the other brother with wind chakra flowing through it, making it fly faster through the air. The blade flew the short distance and pierced the man's throat, the blade flew through the muscle tissue, cutting up his veins and arteries as if they were wet tissue paper. The blade didn't stop until it hit the ground, leaving a large mark.

Kotero quickly retrieved his blade and cleaned it off by making his chakra turn into water and letting it flow onto the blade, taking the blood with it. He dried it off his Chūnin jacket and looked at the corpses behind. Kotero sees Asuma inspecting the bodies and his kills.

"Sorry I took all the fun, I swear to God I thought the second guy would dodge and you would come in and finish him off," Kotero said out quietly, only letting Asuma hear his words.

"It was very an anti-climactic fight, but they were good kills I have to admit. The information in the bingo books say that they were ninjutsu users. They must have let their other skills become rusty if you only needed a second to kill them off," Asuma said in a bored tone, not happy he didn't get any action.

Kotero only nodded, it was the only conclusion of why these two B-ranked nin were so easy to kill. ' _If they were clones waiting for an ambush, then I would understand why they were so easy to eliminate. But the large chakra signatures are gone and elemental clones dissipate if they're a long distance from the creator! These guys were either idiots with no sense of their surroundings or I'm good at this sort of thing!'_  Kotero thought with a small grin.

"Are we going to seal the bodies as whole or we just going to get the heads?" Kotero asked Asuma, having never done this before.

"We aren't hunter-nin so we just need to bag-and-tag them. You can do the job, you're clearly much better at it," Asuma said as he took out a new cigarette and started smoking it.

Kotero set up two body storage seals in a new scroll and placed their bodies on the seals. He then formed the Ram hand seal and pulsed his chakra. The bodies disappeared into the seals with small puffs of smoke coming out.

Kotero then wrapped up the seal and tossed it to Asuma. "What did the bandit camp look like?" Kotero asked, the camp was the last objective of their double B-rank mission.

"It's organised, there are thirteen men there, like you sensed, at the main tent where the brothers slept, there wasn't much money, treasure, jutsu scrolls or anything. I'd say these guys made their name from attacking weak towns with their ninjutsu and didn't take much from the towns they attacked," Asuma concluded, while scratching his beard.

Kotero then scratched his chin, "So we can just blow it up?" he proposed, he wanted to finish the job.

Asuma stood there, staring at Kotero, then a small shine coursed through his eyes he smiled evilly, "Yeah let's do it and get out of here!" he excitedly said.

Kotero nodded his head with vigour and formed the ram hand seal, "Kai!" Kotero said out loud. An instant later, explosions were heard south of their position where the camp was residing. Screams and chokes were heard, some small trees collapsed because of the weakened and cracked ground.

Waiting a minute for the poison to dissipate into the air, Asuma and Kotero walked towards the camp, to make sure no stragglers survived. They reached the camp after walking for a minute and saw it was completely destroyed. The bodies of some of the bandits lost limbs and blood was squirting out of the arteries, mini blood fountains. The men who had none of their limbs blown off were coughing hoarsely and their skin colour was paling quickly, turning into a deathly white. There was one man who had his half corpse blown off, leaving the charred mush that was once his body in the centre of the destroyed camp.

Asuma and Kotero gave the men that survived the unexpected attack mercy by ending their lives so the poison would stop hurting them, the poison was eradicating their central nervous system. They then piled their bodies together into the centre of the camp.

Asuma flashed through the hand seals Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger.  _' **Fire release: Fireball,** '_ he thought as a large fire ball came out of Asuma's mouth and enveloped the corpses of the fallen bandits. Asuma and Kotero waited until the fires died down, so only the ashes remained. Kotero then blasted some of his wind chakra from his hand, the ash pile was moved into the air where it mixed with the cinders of the burnt bodies. The area was stained in blood and reeked of crisped up remains. "Let's get out of here, there's nothing left for us," Asuma ordered.

He and Kotero began their run back to Konoha. The day was still young, Kotero knew they'd be home before midnight. ' _Only two days to do two B-rank missions. I hope it's like this for all my missions!'_ Kotero jovially thought as he and Asuma took to the trees for their long run home.

* * *

**Towards Konoha**

"Are all missions like that Asuma?" Kotero asked, as he was healing Asuma's twisted ankle after he stepped on it wrong.

"They vary, D-rank missions are easy missions, more like chores. They are always inside the village. C-rank missions are more difficult, they consist of escort missions of people looking for protection from bandits or delivering documents to towns, cities or hidden villages. They can also include clearing out small bandit camps," Asuma said while he takes a drag out of his cigarette and puffs out the smoke. "Let's walk to Konoha for now, we're close!" he then said after Kotero fixed up his ankle.

"Now, where was I? Oh yeah! Now B-rank missions are like the one we just did, and they include more intense missions, and usually we would get this sort of job from allied countries. Then there are A-rank missions, these ones are dangerous and are only taken by Jōnin or veteran Chūnin. You would expect these missions to conflict with the interests of other Elemental nations or the client would be a rich noble or businessman. These missions really affect Konoha's image as a strong hidden village so the Hokage only picks the experienced for this. Although I wouldn't be surprised if your next mission is an A-rank Kotero," Asuma said.

"Oh? Why is that?" Kotero asked.

"Well Tou-san already trusts you a lot, I do too. And after the report we give, he'll be tempted to put you in a squad doing an A-rank mission. I'm not lying, you're one of the best ninja I know, and this is your first mission outing. I'm not trying to give you a big head but you're fast, calm, skilled and you had a great plan for those Iwa brothers and their camp. You made my life much easier. I can't think of many ninja who could've done as good as job as you," Asuma complimented his redhaired friend.

Kotero kept his face blank and nodded along to Asuma's words, but internally he was blushing madly. ' _It feels great getting complimented by one of the elites in Konoha!'_  he cried happily internally. "Thank you Asuma, those kind words mean a lot," Kotero admitted.

"No problem. Once you become a Jōnin, and I don't think you'll have to wait long, Tou-san will probably put you through S-rank missions!" Asuma said with a smirk.

"S-rank!? What are they like? What the hell does the S stand for, Special?" Kotero asked, clueless to the fact.

"Suicide!" Asuma chuckled out.

Kotero paled at this, that sounded awful. "Does Hokage-sama want to get me killed? I thought the bastard liked me!" Kotero sombrely said, his head was gloomily hanging down off his neck.

Asuma laughed and slapped the back of Kotero. "Lighten up, it just means he trusts you and believes you have the skill set to accomplish these missions. Although there is a high risk of death, only the elite are even allowed to do them. You would be considered the top of the food chain if you did them!" Asuma said, trying to cheer Kotero up.

Kotero put his head up high and looked straight ahead, "I don't want to be the best just because of rank or fame or even money. I want to improve myself so that I can protect my little brotherand my friends," Kotero said, certainty running through his voice.

Asuma raised an eyebrow, "Little brother? You mean Naruto?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's my little ball of sunshine," Kotero said with a happy smile. "After my Kaa-chan's death, I was torn apart emotionally but I steeled myself to go to Konoha and try find family. Even though I was happy seeing him at the start. I was still heart broken and depressed, I broke down real bad one day and he saved me. Then he broke down with me and we spent the day crying and comforting each other. We both really needed it!" Kotero said wiping a small tear from his left eye.

Asuma smiled at this, he knew that Naruto had no family for nearly all his life and the feeling of losing a family member was one of the worst pains to have, having lost his mother and brother, he knows it all too well. "I'm glad you found each other. Like you said, you both need it. I also heard from Ibiki-san that you had a drunken episode before you came here. Don't worry, only a bare handful know that. If it happens again, I'll help you out. But let's talk about something else... I've seen Naruto's academy reports, they're awful. Are you helping him train?" Asuma asked, he was interested what the prankster king would become in the future.

Kotero sighed and rubbed his face. He didn't like the fact that now more than three people know of his drunk actions at the town of Gero Onsen. He had to put it behind him now.

"Well I'll tell you now, before I came he was awful, now after a month, in skills I would say he would be one of the best in his class. The academy's way of teaching didn't suit Naruto. My training to him was brutal but he improved steadily. But sure, it was easy for him to catch up to the others. They're only ten, some are eleven. However, I told him to keep his skills hidden and be tight-lipped about it!" Kotero said to the smoker.

Asuma was puzzled by this. "Why would you make him do that? Wouldn't you want him to be rookie of the year?" he asked.

"No! Never, it's just a title. It won't mean shit when Naruto becomes the first Chūnin in his class. Him becoming Rookie of the year will gather unnecessary attention to him, and he doesn't need anymore. Also, when he's fighting his enemies, they'll underestimate him. I've noticed it recently, everyone talks too much. Ninjas are supposed to be spies and killers not chat-up artists!" Kotero ranted, moving his arms around in a frustrated gesture.

Asuma could only keep his mouth shut as everything that was said was true. The duo kept walking and they chatted about other things, getting to know each other's likes, dislikes, hobbies and other things. At some points during the conversation, Asuma would headlock Kotero and give him a nuggie. Kotero would then shove Asuma off and try to tickle him. This lead to a slapping match and other stupid games and antics. They were quickly becoming great friends.

This stopped when they saw the gates and walls of Konoha, they walked as professionals from there on out. They then walked over to the guard shelter, both sighing a breath of relief when they entered the shade. They saw Izumo and Kotestu playing cards. "Reporting return for Jōnin Sarutobi Asuma and Chūnin Uzumaki Kotero from dual B-rank mission," Asuma announced to the two guards.

"Oi it's Asuma and Kotero! What's up man?" Izumo asked with a fist stretched out for Kotero to bump it.

"All good Izumo, hope you're beating Kotestu-chan!" Kotero said in a cheeky smile as he bumped fists with Izumo.

Kotestu frowned at this, "Oi! Not cool man, I thought we were friends!" he said in a fake sad tone, pouting with his act.

"Calm your tits Kotestu! I am your friend," Kotero laughed as he poked Kotestu's shoulder.

Asuma signed his name and then forced Kotero to sign his name by grabbing his shoulder and putting him on the sign-up sheet. "Jeez Asuma, I didn't know you liked it rough," Kotero said with a grin as Asuma's face turned bright red. The two guards barked out laughing and were holding their stomachs. Asuma couldn't take it anymore and started pulling on Kotero's ear and bringing him towards the Hokage tower to report.

"Ah Asuma, seriously knock it off!" Kotero all but yelled at Asuma.

Asuma tugged a little harder before letting go, "There! That's your punishment for joking about your superior officer. Next time I won't be so nice!" Asuma said in a pseudo-threatening manner.

Kotero kept silent but in his head, he was laughing his ass off, ' _Sex related jokes gets this man so embarrassed, can't wait to do it in front of the other Jōnin!'_ Kotero giggled internally. They kept walking through the village and finally reached the Hokage office. They entered inside and gave a quick wave to the secretary, they climbed the stairs to the top floor and walked down the long corridor. They saw the Hokage office door. Asuma gave it two hard knocks. "Enter," was all the two heard.

Asuma opened the door to see his father doing the paperwork. "Reporting for mission's success, Tou-san," Asuma said in his professional tone, while smoking a new cigarette. Kotero walked in and gave a nod to the old man.

Hiruzen looked up from his desk and saw his son and his favourite redhead. "Asuma, Kotero, hope the Daimyō and the bandit problem wasn't too bad," he said with a smile.

Kotero shook his head. "Nope!" he said out loud.

Asuma and Hiruzen chuckled. "So, will you two give me a mission report. I need a break and I want to know about your mission debut Kotero," Hiruzen asked excitedly.

Asuma sighed and got himself comfortable on a chair, while Kotero walked over to a wall to lean on.

Asuma got the ball rolling. "After we left Konoha, Kotero sealed the finance report into a storage seal that would only react to our blood and chakra. Then we left towards the capital and avoided all potential dangers. We arrived early and booked ourselves a hotel. The next day we had our meeting with the Daimyō and he was happy to see us as some rather pissed off nobles or something left before we entered. The Daimyō seemed to take an interest in Kotero because of his swords and asked if he could spar with one of his top samurai," Asuma reported, his hand gestures added to the act.

Hiruzen was taking it all in, liking the point about the seal, it seemed that his point of it being a very important mission got through his newest Chūnin. "What did you say Kotero?" he asked.

Kotero scoffed and looked away from the two. "I said that it was Asuma's decision as he was my superior officer," he said with a bit of a hiss.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow and then looked at his son, who had a huge smile planted on his face. "What happened?" he asked, no threat hidden in his voice, just curiosity.

"I told him it was alright to fight him. I didn't want to upset the Daimyō and I wanted to see him fight with his swords. I heard from Hayate that he was insanely good so I had to see it for myself," Asuma replied honestly.

"So how did that fight go?" the Hokage asked, while taking out his pipe and stuffing it with his favourite cinnamon tobacco. He used fire chakra from a click of his fingers to light it. He looked back at Asuma, waiting for the story.

"The samurai and Kotero started and the samurai was impressive, he was blocking Kotero's strikes from the start of the fight, but then Kotero did this one attack and the samurai blocked him again with greater speed he showed in the spar before. Then Kotero moved back and went on the defensive. The samurai then just attacked relentlessly, going faster and faster until he couldn't go any quicker. Kotero was dodging and blocking them all and then Kotero pulled out his other sword and then in a blur, he appeared on the other side of the samurai and put away his swords and walked towards me and the Daimyō. The samurai's armour just fell apart and his clothes were cut all over the place. It was one of the coolest things I've seen in a while!" Asuma explained the fight excitingly.

Hiruzen was just as engrossed. "It sounds similar to your fight with Hayate, doesn't it Kotero?" he said with a small grin.

Kotero just nodded, "It's just a finishing move, I just wanted to tire him out and analyse his fighting pattern. Really the samurai made my life easier by being too predictable," he said while crossing his arms looking at his leader.

"What matters is that you won! Now tell me about those Iwa ninja causing trouble," Hiruzen said.

"Well, I'm not going to lie, they were easier than what they were made out to be," Asuma said.

The Hokage was surprised by this "They were supposed to be an A-level threat. What happened out there to say they were easier than you thought they would be?" he asked, his interest in this mission increased.

Asuma chuckled before looking and pointing his finger at Kotero, "He did!" was all he said.

Hiruzen then stared at Kotero, waiting for the answer. "Fine I'll talk!" Kotero said while moving closer to the Hokage's desk, pulling a chair and sitting down similar to Asuma. He then unsealed a water bottle and began drinking it. Once he quenched his thirst, he looked at the Hokage.

"The Daimyō gave us information from his scout that the bandits were sighted near Yakoi river. We went to investigate. We then split up and I found water droplets on the other bank and divots in the river. I went back to grab Asuma and we went on to find the camp. I used my sensing and we found our targets along with thirteen non-ninja bandits. I devised a plan for us to follow. I gave Asuma special poisonous explosive tags that I prototyped and let him set them up around the camp while I go to where the two brothers were. They split themselves up from the camp and were talking in private about what they were going to do with the money they steal. I waited for Asuma to come back to initiate the next part of the plan.

I was supposed to neutralise the first brother, distract the second, making him jump away and let Asuma get the jump on him. What actually happened, was that I did indeed neutralised the first brother, but when I threw my hidden blade at the second brother, he did nothing and the blade went through his throat, killing him instantly! I then sealed the bodies. Asuma informed me that there was nothing of value in the camp, so we blew it up, gathered the dead, cremated them and went on our way back home! That's the full verbal report," Kotero said, taking another gulp of his water.

The Hokage interlaced his fingers and brought them to hide his grin. He leaned back into his chair and looked at Asuma. "Asuma, is all he said true?" he asked, he doubted Kotero would lie or exaggerate but he needed a second opinion.

Asuma smirked and took another whiff of his cigarette. He blew out the smoke that was filling the room's air. "All of it! Kotero was a total professional. Cool, calm-minded and efficient," Asuma said while patting Kotero's back.

The Hokage was happy seeing that his son and Kotero already had a strong bond. "Good work! I already told you two how important these missions were and you performed them better than expected! Your mission pay will be transferred to your bank accounts by this evening. I'm proud of you both, especially you Kotero. I have to tell the truth that I was expecting you to have a rough time with missions and working with someone else but this old man shouldn't have worried at all," The Hokage explained.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity Hokage-sama, I'll always be in your debt for your kindness!" Kotero replied with true gratitude.

"Nonsense, I should be thanking you. The hospital has been praising me since you came! I actually got you a gift for your hard work there," the aged leader said.

Kotero was surprised that the Hokage got him a gift. The Hokage took a huge crate filled with scrolls and gave it to Kotero. It was bigger than his lap and the height of the crate reached his chest. "These are some of the notes and Jutsu that my sensei, Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage wrote and possessed. There hasn't been a good water element user since him and I believe he would want his legacy to be lived on. So, I'm trusting you with these and hope you have success. Maybe you'll be the second coming of sensei when it comes to water jutsu," the Hokage said in a grandfatherly tone.

Kotero was truly in awe of what was in front of him. "T-t-thank you Hokage-sama, I'll do you and Tobirama-sama proud!" he stuttered out in determination in his voice.

The Hokage smiled and turned his head to his son, "Konohamaru-kun has been missing you Asuma, he wants me to ask you if we all could have dinner tomorrow night, can you come?" Hiruzen asked, he was hoping his improving relationship with his son will allow him to eat with his whole family once again.

In the past, Asuma would've declined and used the excuse of being too busy, but now he wanted to spend time with his family. "Yeah sure, I'll be there!" he said with a smile.

"If you don't mind Hokage-sama, Asuma. I want to check up on Naruto. I'm sure he's missed me, even though it's only been two days," Kotero said with a bit of anxiousness in his voice. ' _What if he burnt the house down while I was gone!'_  he internally screamed, and thinking of other similar scenarios.

"Of course, go Kotero. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you!" the Hokage said happily

Asuma turned around, "See you later man!" he said with his hand stretched out.

Kotero slapped his hand, "Yeah see ya later Asuma!" Kotero said as he then left the room and went back home.

"I love that kid!" Asuma said with a smile on his face.

"Kid!? He's only seven years younger than you!" the Hokage laughed out.

"So what? He's still a kid, a great kid. Shit! Look at the time. See you later Tou-san, I need some food!" Asuma exclaimed as he left the room.

"Yeah I love that kid as well. Ah back to paperwork," the aged leader said sadly to himself as he got back to work.

* * *

**West Sector of Konoha**

Kotero was walking home, his crate full of valuable water element ninjutsu in hand. ' _How lucky am I! Senju Tobirama's notes on water element ninjutsu. I need to work on this as soon as I can!'_  Kotero happily thought.

He was walking for ten minutes until he saw the lights that were coming out of his sun was setting when he and Asuma entered Konoha, now it is night time. The sky was black with bright stars shining. He walks up to his house door and puts the crate in one hand. He flowed his chakra onto the handle. 'CLICK' was heard and Kotero opened the door to go inside. He walked into the living room and see Naruto and Shikamaru playing Shogi on the floor.

"Oh, Naruto. I didn't know you liked shogi?" Kotero said with a smile, happy to see his little brother.

Both boys looked at the redhead, surprised to see him. "Nii-chan. When did you get back?" Naruto asked from his position.

"An hour ago, had to report to Hokage-Jiji. Now, let me put this in my study and I'll tell you my mission if you want!" he said gleefully as he went upstairs to his study. He entered his study and placed the crate beside his desk. Satisfied, he went back downstairs to see Naruto and Shikamaru sitting on the couch waiting for him. "What happened to the game?" he asked, he only left them for sixty seconds.

Naruto pouted, "Shika wanted to hear the story as well so he ended it in his turn," Naruto said glumly.

Kotero chuckled at this, "You make it sound like he beats you every time!" he said.

"I do!" Shikamaru said, joining in the conservation for the first time.

Kotero chuckled even more, and then sat in one of the bachelor chairs, running his hand through his red hair. "So, I think I'll start from the beginning! I met my partner Asuma at the Hokage tower and…" Kotero continued the story with the Daimyō and the samurai, then the investigation to find the camp, eliminating his two targets and destroying the bandit camp. He described the events that happened in vivid detail. Throughout the story, Naruto and Shikamaru's eyes were glued to Kotero, hearing the coolest story they've ever heard.

"Holy crap! You're awesome Nii-chan!" Naruto said energetically as he jumped off his seat and his fists started shaking.

"Thanks Naruto! And what did you think Shikamaru?" Kotero asked.

"Much better than from what we hear from the academy," Shikamaru stated.

Kotero just smiled at this. "Though now I'm starving, I'm just going to get a quick bite," he told them. He left the two boys to chat for themselves and went into the kitchen, he grabbed a scroll from the top shelf. He laid it on the out counter and three trays of sushi appeared. "Thank God I stored this food," he happily cheered out. He proceeded to stuff his face with the delicacy and in an instant, it was all gone.

"Oh, it's time I went home. Thanks for having me over Naruto!" Shikamaru said. Then he turned to Kotero "Kotero. Oyaji wanted to talk to you," he said louder.

Kotero raised his eyebrow, "Really? Well I'll walk you home then and I can have a quick chat with him," Kotero said. He walked to the door and unstrapped his swords and various pouches, forgetting to take them off after his mission, he placed them on the hall table.

The Nara heir and Kotero left the front door and started walking to the Nara compound. Kotero was asking questions about Nara life and Shikamaru's experience with the academy. He gathered that he and Naruto have similar opinions to one another when it comes to their fellow students, instead of calling them names like Naruto does, Shikamaru just says that they're "too troublesome".

Kotero was laughing at Shikamaru's catchphrase. It was just like Naruto's "Dattebayo"!

They finally reached the Nara compound and Shikamaru went up to the front door and knocked on it. Kotero was just standing right behind him. The door slid open with speed and an angry looking mother was in front of both. Shikamaru paled at seeing his angry mother, Kotero grew a small smile, he knew he wasn't in trouble but his heartbeat rate did increase, being in this position before, ' _Everyone's Mother is scary!'_  he thought.

"NARA SHIKAMARU! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!?" the angry mother shouted out fiercely.

Shikamaru couldn't get one word out but then he was saved by a redhaired angel. "Please forgive Shikamaru for his tardiness, it was my fault that he was late. He was spending time with my little brother Naruto and I insisted he got some food into his system before he left!" Kotero said in his polite voice.

The angry mother's face softened dramatically when she saw Kotero and heard his words. Then a smile beamed on her face. "Ah don't worry about it Kotero-kun. I heard all about you from Shika-chan and Shikaku. Thank you for caring for my son!" she said sweetly.

"Wait... you know who I am?" Kotero asked. ' _It seems like everyone in this damn village loves to gossip about me!'_  he thought.

"Of course handsome!" Shikamaru's mother said. She then leads her son and Kotero into the main room and insisted for them to sit. "I didn't introduce myself, did I? Any way I'm Nara Yoshino!" she said with a happy smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Yoshino-san!" Kotero said as he looked around the house.

"I'm going to get my husband. He wanted to talk to you since the council meeting about you," Yoshino said as she left the two in the room.

Kotero and Shikamaru sat behind the table in the room. "Your mother is a lovely lady," Kotero said in a neutral tone, not even looking at Shikamaru.

"Yeah I know, but she's the most troublesome woman I know," Shikamaru droned out as he rubbed his forehead.

"Who are the others?" Kotero asked, already having an idea of who Shikamaru is referring to.

"Ino and Sakura. Ino more so since our clans are tight, we knew each other since we were toddlers. She's the loudest gossiper and the whole 'Sasuke-kun' thing is just... troublesome," Shikamaru said as he looked at Kotero.

Kotero looked at Shikamaru, "What about Sakura?" he asked, not liking the girl for the way she treats Naruto.

Shikamaru stayed silent for a second before replying, "Her rivalry with Ino for Sasuke's attention is annoying. She is very loud, but more screechy than loud if I must say. And I never liked the way she treats the boys in our class with her fists," Shikamaru answered.

"Troublesome," Kotero said, getting a raised eyebrow and a small grin from the Nara Heir. Yoshino and Shikaku made their appearance and both sat down in front of Shikamaru and Kotero.

Shikaku saw red hair and smiled, he finally gets to meet the mysterious Uzumaki. "Uzumaki Kotero. I'm happy I get to meet you, and thank you for taking care of my son," Shikaku said with a grin.

"It's no bother Shikaku-san, any friend of Naruto is a friend of mine. When he's in my house, I'll make sure he's taken care of!" Kotero said cheerfully.

The parents could only smile at this. Shikaku spoke up, "I heard from my son that you were on a mission, how was it?" he asked.

"Well to be honest, it went a lot smoother than I thought it would've went. I met the Daimyō and cleared two names in the bingo book in the same day so I can't complain," Kotero said in a nonchalant tone.

Eyebrows were raised on both the Nara. "The Daimyō? I hope nothing bad happened for your sake!" Yoshino said with a hint of concern in her voice.

"No! Nothing bad happened, however he wanted me to spar with his top samurai. I didn't want to but ya can't refuse the Daimyō so, I sparred the man and beat him," Kotero said as if he didn't care at all for the achievement.

"You must be very skilled in kenjutsu, just like Hokage-sama said in the meeting," Shikaku said.

"Yeah well, I have worked on it for over a decade so I would like to think I'm good. Now I need to improve my other areas. Can't be getting stale now can I hehe!" Kotero chuckled out.

Shikaku couldn't hold it in anymore, "Kotero-san, do you play shogi?" he asked with a small glint of shine in his eyes.

' _Oh, here he goes!'_  both Shikamaru and Yoshino thought at the same time.

"I do play, but haven't in a few months so I would be rusty. Why, you looking for a game?" Kotero asked, not knowing what he is getting himself into.

"I'm the best in the village and I'm hoping that you would give me a challenge. Shikamaru here is the only competition I have and Yoshino-chan refuses to play with me," Shikaku gruffly said, with a small bit of sadness.

"Fine I'm game. But not tonight, I need to do some work and get some shut-eye!" Kotero exclaimed to the Nara family.

"Of course, why don't you come down tomorrow. Shikamaru and Naruto can herd the deer together, we can play our game and Yoshino-chan can make us all dinner!" he said excitedly, to him it sounded like the perfect plan.

Yoshino's forehead got several tic marks, being forced to cook for five the next day, she will have to beat her husband later though, she didn't want to give a bad impression to her guest Kotero.

"That sounds wonderful! I can't wait to taste your cooking Yoshino-san. If you don't mind, I think I overstayed my welcome. Thank you for having me over," He said with a head nod to the Nara family.

"Don't talk nonsense Kotero! As far as I can see, you'll always be welcome here!" Yoshino declared with a caring but angry tone.

' _I don't know if I should be scared or feel safe when I'm near her!'_ Kotero thought worriedly, now understanding Shikamaru's burden. "Thank you Yoshino-san. We'll come around four o'clock if that suits. Naruto can't slack off his training!" Kotero said with an evil smile.

Kotero went for the front door and opened it, then he left the house, leaving promptly out of the Nara Compound. He took is time when walking through the village, still not used to staying at Konoha yet. He takes to the rooftops and starts to dash towards home. He finally made it and his tiredness caught up with him.

"Guess I can skip work tonight and just go straight to bed," he said sadly. Kotero opened the door and went to find Naruto, to tell him about the dinner plans with the Nara's. "Naruto?" he shouted out.

"In my room!" Naruto shouted from upstairs. Kotero heard and started to climb up the stairs he opened Naruto's bedroom door and just made his head known. "We have dinner with the Nara's tomorrow after training. I want you to wear the black and orange haori I got you. I'll be wearing my red one. We have to look handsome as hell tomorrow! That's all. Good night Naruto," Kotero yawned out.

"Good night Nii-chan!" Naruto yawned himself, he himself was getting ready for bed.

* * *

**The Next Day**

"So, Naruto how was your training while I was gone?" Kotero asked Naruto as they walked out to the training grounds behind their house.

"I got the leaves to go counter-clockwise finally!" Naruto proudly exclaimed.

"That's great, you'll have to show me and then we'll do the next chakra control exercise," Kotero said with pride.

They got to the middle of the grounds and did their stretches. "Naruto put on your game-face now. We're going to go to level two of training!" Kotero ordered.

"Level two! Alright, I'm ready for it," Naruto said with confidence.

"Good! That's what we want. Now you know the drill. Twenty laps around. Then 100 push-ups, squats, jumping jacks and sit-ups. Then twenty pull-ups and chin-ups.  **NOW GET TO IT!** " Kotero barked out his orders.

Naruto nodded and ran around the perimeter immediately. Then he went through his push-ups, squats and other exercises with good form. He was struggling as he slowed down a he further progressed into the exercises but he didn't stop, he just took his time. Finally, he finished the last of his chin-ups. He fell to the ground, Naruto was breathing heavy and sweat was dripping off his whole naked upper body.

Kotero brought over an ice-cold water bottle and an energy protein bar. "You didn't fuck up once. Well done! Now, since we have dinner in… an hour and a bit. We can only introduce the chakra control exercise and do about forty-five minutes of it," Kotero said as he started walking towards the small forest that was in their property.

"What're we doing out here?" Naruto asked.

"You going to climb the trees with only your feet!" Kotero said with a smile.

"With only my feet!? How can I do that… Oh with chakra hehe," Naruto said while scratching the back of his head.

"It follows the same principle as the leaf exercise, you going to use your chakra to create a suction effect on your feet and you'll use that effect to climb the trees. Now, watch me!" Kotero said.

Kotero flowed chakra to his feet and then walked up to the tree, he put his foot onto the bark, and then his other, he began walking vertically. "We'll go do water walking after this exercise, once you are able to stay on the trees for two hours straight, and we have an upside-down spar on the trees. You may think it's insane to do that much work. But it'll help control your insane chakra reserves and give you an advantage while fighting enemies with lots of walls or trees around you. But for now, let's try and get you at least walking on the tree," Kotero ordered.

Naruto breathed in and out deeply. He put his hands in the ram sign and flowed chakra to his feet. He took his first step on the tree, the bark then blasted off the tree, Naruto was surprised at what he just did. "I didn't mean to do that, I swear!" he cried out.

Kotero just sighed, "Don't worry Naruto. It's just training. You used too much chakra there. Next time try use less. And maybe get a running start. That'll help you out," Kotero gave his advice with a friendly pat on the back.

Naruto just nodded and got back up. He repeated with the ram sign and flowed chakra to his feet. He then ran to the tree and started to climb it about seven feet up its thirty and then his left foot slipped off because of lack of chakra. Naruto did a backflip and landed on his feet. "That was better!" he shouted with enthusiasm.

Kotero nodded with a small grin. He then threw a kunai at Naruto's feet. "Use the kunai to mark your progress." He then threw one of kunai halfway up the tree. "If you get there before we go to the Nara's. I'll buy you five ramen bowls from Ichiraku. Now get back at it!" Kotero ordered Naruto.

For the next forty minutes, Naruto was doing amazingly well for someone who had no control of his chakra a month ago. Just as time was up, Naruto's kunai was stuck at around fourteen feet. "That's not fair, I was so close!" Naruto mumbled. He then sat on his bum and brought his knees to his chest. "I worked so hard but I get no ramen. Life can be so cruel" Naruto murmured out.

"Naruto! Quit bitching about your ramen and get cleaned up. We have to go in half an hour," Kotero said with an angry scowl on his face. Naruto saw his big brother and sprinted inside to have a shower and get dressed. When Naruto was gone, Kotero puffed into smoke, revealing he was just a shadow clone. The real Kotero was having a bath in his bedroom's bathroom. Learning of the memories, he smiled deeply, his little brother actually did well for less than an hour at the exercise. It seemed his advanced leaf exercise really helped out Naruto's chakra control.

After ten minutes, Kotero got out of the bath and dried himself up. He then went over to his clothes he was going to wear for their meal. He put on his normal shinobi boots and pants. He then wears a black shirt and then puts his red and black haori on. He checks himself out in the mirror. ' _Damn! So sexy!'_  he thought while doing silly poses and faces.

He then leaves the bathroom then his room. He sees Naruto exit his bedroom, wearing a similar outfit but instead of wearing his black jacket and white t-shirt, he wore a similar black shirt and an identical haori but instead of red, it was orange. "Looking good Naruto!" Kotero admitted as he looked at the blonde's outfit.

"Wow, Nii-chan, you look good too dattebayo!" Naruto said in a gleeful smile. Kotero then ruffled Naruto's hair. Naruto fumed at this and tried to fix it. After he fixed up his already messy hair, Naruto and his big brother went downstairs and left through the front door. Naruto walked a few steps ahead until he noticed Kotero wasn't following him. He was staring off in the distance. "What's wrong Kotero-nii?" Naruto asked.

Kotero said nothing and walked over to Naruto, he then tightly grabbed Naruto's shoulder and then body flickered them until they reached the Nara compound. Naruto was amazed they covered such a distance in such a short time. "You have to teach me that ttebayo," Naruto demanded,

Kotero just chuckled at his little brother love for ninjutsu and anything related to it. "I will soon, don't worry. We have to work on "you" before you learn new jutsu. Come on, we don't want Yoshino-san to bite our heads off!" Kotero said while hastily walking to the Nara's front door.

Kotero then lightly knocked on the door three times and then waited. The door opened and revealed Shikaku with a stupid looking smile on his face. "Welcome you two! Kotero the board is set up. SHIKAMARU! COME HERE!" Shikaku shouted the last part.

Shikamaru came out his hiding place and moved to see the Uzumaki brothers. "Nice to see you two again. Oyaji, what is it?" he asked.

"You and Naruto are going to be herding the deer before dinner is ready. Now go show Naruto the reins!" he ordered at his son.

"Jeez, Oyaji you didn't have to shout! Come on Naruto, let's get of here already," Shikamaru said as he left the house and grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him along.

Shikaku looked at Kotero intently, "Now that the pests are away, I'd say we should start our game!" he gruffly said.

He led Kotero through his house to a special room that had nothing apart from two mats and a shogi board. Beside the board was a battle of Sake and two saucers. ' _I know where this is going Shikaku, and I like it!'_  Kotero thought excitedly.

They both sat down across from each other and Shikaku filled up their saucers. "I'll go first to get it started," Shikaku said.

The game began, it started fast and both players were eliminating each other's pieces. Then it slowed down dramatically and both players were thinking of how the hell they were going to defeat one another. After two hours and forty-one turns, Shikaku got Kotero into a situation that was impossible to escape. "Checkmate!" he said with a smug face.

"Yeah you got me good. It was fun playing with ya you smart bastard!" Kotero chuckled out.

Both men laughed out, after a few seconds of laughing, Shikaku looks at Kotero, "That was a good game! Still not enough to beat me but I guess you could give Shika a run for his money," the elder Nara admitted.

"I haven't played in a while, I didn't expect you to be so hard. God, you're relentless with the silver generals!" Kotero said pouting.

"Yeah enough about the game though. We'll play again soon enough I hope. Shikamaru told me you were working on a medical seal?" Shikaku asked Kotero, the idea was very interesting.

"Well yeah, I've only been working on it just before I moved to Konoha. It's very hard to make a seal that stores medical chakra and then spreads it evenly across the body. I don't know why but the medical chakra doesn't behave like normal chakra. Maybe because it's prominently Yang chakra, who knows? It's all so troublesome. But there are so many benefits if I can get it to work. Ah, it's only a project. I will get it finished but I wanted to create it because there isn't a seal its type," Kotero said, admitting his shortcomings to Shikaku.

Shikaku nodded, "We supply deer antlers and ingredients from our forests to the hospital for their healing practices, so I know how amazing that kind of seal would be. You would probably be as famous as Tsunade-sama if you got it to work," Shikaku said.

"Hm, I would love to meet the woman. She's supposedly the strongest and most beautiful woman in the world. Too bad her location is damn near impossible to find. I tried finding her in the past for my sick mother, but I couldn't even sniff her trail," Kotero said sadly.

Shikaku knew it was a time to change the topic, this was too sensitive to talk about after just becoming friends. Luckily, Shikamaru and Naruto returned from the deer herding. The boys entered the room where the men were residing drinking their sake. "How'd the game go?" Shikamaru asked.

"Your Oyaji won! I just hope I didn't disappoint him with my... rusty skills," Kotero admitted.

"No, you were a good challenge. I like to play you again once you get a few more games under your belt!" Shikaku replied. "Come on, I think dinner is ready. Yoshino will kill me if we're late!" Shikaku paled after he said that. The boys all left the room and went over to the kitchen. Yoshino served them a huge feast and it was a night to remember between the Nara and Uzumaki.

* * *

**~ 0 ~**


End file.
